Build Up and Roll Out
by fanficmaster2.0
Summary: It has been 10 years since Pandora's Box was discovered on Mars and caused the Sky Wall Disaster. Our world was divided into the Eastern, Western and Northern Divisions, resulting in untold chaos. And robotic beings from another world have brought their war to ours. Only one boy, Tobias Franklin, can make the Best Match for both races. Tobias is now more than meets the eye!
1. Chapter 1

_**One Best Match is More Than Meets the Eye Part 1!**_

 _ **ARE YOU READY FOR THE BEGINNING!?**_

 _ **"Cybertron… Our home… For generations it has been a peaceful world. Until pride and a lust for power divided us. Now we fight; enemies who were once our brothers. Now our tragic war has ravaged our planet."**_

 _ **"It is a necessary war, to return us to glory… even if it means conquering another world to do so!"**_

 _ **"The Autobots will never sacrifice freedom, be it ours or the freedom of the species of any other world."**_

 _ **"The Decepticons will bring Cybertron and the universe to order!"**_

 _ **"Our defeat would mean the end of everything."**_

 _ **"My victory will mark a brilliant new beginning!"**_

 _ **"But now eons of this very war has caused the greatest of casualties…"**_

 _ **"Cybertron's very core has shut down, halting its production of life-giving enegon…"**_

 _ **"Most of us have abandoned our home, in search for a new life among the stars…"**_

 _ **"The Decepticons shall wipe the universe clean of the Autobots forever!"**_

 _ **"I am Optimus Prime-leader of the Autobots."**_

 _ **"I am Megatron-ruler of the Decepticons!"**_

 _ **"We do not know how many of our brothers escaped Megatron's blockade…"**_

 _ **"I do not know how many of Optimus' followers escaped our forces…"**_

 _ **"I can only be certain of this: in the end…"**_

 _ **"One shall stand…"**_

 _ **"…One shall fall!"**_

* * *

 _ **7 MILLION YEARS AGO; THE DEEP RECESSES OF SPACE…**_

* * *

Within the deep recesses of space, far from organic planet of Earth, the vortex of portal composed of an unknown energy was tearing through the fabric of reality. Where it led to, no one could guess. As it swirled in circles, the portal released shockwaves through space, indicating that it was somehow unstable. If anyone was smart enough, they'd know that traveling towards an unstable portal would most likely be suicide. But there was one thing that was traveling towards it, knowing it would be it's salvation or destruction.

A giant alien spacecraft of unknown origin was traversing towards the portal. Within the vessel were not the average little green men as anyone would expect, but rather a species of giant, mechanical beings. Each of these beings had a symbol on different parts of their bodies, all of them the congruent shape of an old man's face, colored in red. Every robot came in different shapes and sizes, and were doing their respected jobs to make sure they all made it to portal. But there was one of these robots who was determined to make sure the others were to make it there alive-or in this case, online-before something catches up to them. This robot was colored red on the upper body and arms, with metallic gray lower torso and upper legs, and blue hands and lower legs with metal wheels on the sides. His head was mostly blue with a silver face and mouthplate on the lower half and blue eyes and all the parts of his body, like every other bot on the ship, was continuously shifting. In his mechanical eyes, this robot was determined to see his fellow robots make it to the portal alive and escape anything an evil they were fighting for countless eons.

After a few minutes of staring off into space-figuratively and literally, since he appeared to be in the main control room of the ship-the robot was addressed by another robot that was red and gray with broad shoulders, and gray head with a red helmet and blue eyes.

"Optimus?" He said, catching the other bot's attention.

"Yes, Ironhide?" Optimus responded.

"Are you sure about this?" Ironhide asked, and Optimus knew what he was referring to.

"To be honest, Ironhide, I have no clue if I'm sure or not…" He said as he looked back up to portal, "But we have no choice; the war is lost. It has been a long, painful war with the Decepticons. Whatever lies beyond that portal is our best and last hope, old friend."

"If it's still open by the time we get there, Optimus," Another robot with red, gray and light blue limbs, a black head with yellow optics, and a scope-like device on his left shoulder spoke up as he set up some holographic images of data, "According to these energy readings, the portal becoming more unstable."

"Whatcha sayin', Prof-Bot?" A white robot with a black head, silver face and a blue visor asked in an accent.

"I'm saying, Jazz, that we'll have to go faster than this to reach the portal," The scientist replied, "And don't call me 'Prof-Bot'. Ever."

"But we already burned halfway through our Energon fuel, Perceptor," Ironhide reminded him, "This is as fast as the Ark goes until we find more."

"Yes, yes, yes," Perceptor replied to Ironhide's statement, "We're just lucky we left the Decepticons in our rearview."

"Don't jinx it, Perceptor," Another voice spoke up from a short, red robot with horns and blue optics.

"Cliffjumper is right, Perceptor," Optimus agreed, "No matter the situation, the Autobots must expect any and all possibilities that Decepticons are always behind us."

Just as the Autobot leader finished that sentence, the Ark shook and some of the alien electronics sparked.

"Speak of the devil…" Ironhide groaned before every Autobot on the bridge heard a loud booming sound from above. Looking upward, Optimus and the others saw an evil-looking ship with violet symbols of an evil face. Optimus and the others knew what ship this was and who it belonged to, and the Autobot leader clenched his fists and squinted his eyes in anger.

"Megatron," He seethed before some kind of robotic tether from the Decepticon ship appeared before the bridge and struck itself into it, making the ship shake. The bridge then became a battle as Decepticons started board and fire at the Autobots without mercy.

"Autobots, direct all fire on those tow cables!" Optimus exclaimed and most of the Autobots followed his orders as their arms transformed into weapon.

"Decepticons are boarding the ship!" Cliffjumper exclaimed, trying to avoid the enemy's fire.

"Don't let up now," Ironhide said as he shot off the heads of some 'Cons, "Defend the bridge!"

"Yes, sir!" An Autobot exclaimed, as more and more Decepticons were dropping like flies. Once the bridge was clear, Perceptor spoke up.

"Teletraan I, full damage analysis all on all decks," He said to the computer as it showed all data on the Ark. Perceptor stared in shock at the results, "By Primus!"

"Man, what's wrong now, Prof-Bot?" Jazz asked, exhausted from all the bad news.

"Engines one and three are down, along the starboard pulse gunners," The Autobot scientist explained the rather grim situation, "If this keeps up, the Decepticons will tear the Ark apart and-"

"We'll never make it the portal and the Decepticons will ravage another world like they have Cybertron," Optimus shook his head in a bit of anger before facing another Autobot the size and shape of Cliffjumper, only he was yellow, "Bumblebee, investigate the situation with the pulse cannons and bring them back online."

The yellow Autobot did no speak; all he did was nod before running off to fix the guns. Just then, the Ark's computer spoke up.

"FIREWALL BREACHED. UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS."

"What?" Perceptor checked the ship's computer again, analysing the system's and what breached their firewall, "Someone's hacked into the ship's main terminal!"

"Say what now?" Jazz said in worry as the Ark was hit with yet another blast from the Decepticon warship. Despite all the ruckus, Perceptor kept canning the ship's system, hoping to find what the Decepticons are trying to hack.

"By the Matrix," He said, "It seems that the Decepticons that have boarded are using the main terminal to access and terminate the Ark's most vulnerable sectors: the engine deck, the armory, the shield generators, the-"

"The entire defense grid?" Ironhide hazarded a guess, knowing the situation is not good.

"Precisely," The Autobot Scientist replied in disappointment before noticing the data on the console led to another area on the Ark, one where he knew where the Autobots were the most vulnerable, "Optimus! The Decepticons are about break into the-"

Perceptor was then cut off by an explosion from the back of the bridge. When the smoke cleared, Optimus and every other 'Bot saw robotic corpses of their comrades everywhere on the floor. At the center at it all was a group of Decepticons led by tall, brute-looking robot coated in silver metal with a blaster on his right arm and red optics. On his chest terminal was the purple symbol of the enemy ship. This was the leader of the Decepticons…

"Megatron…" Optimus glared at the Decepticon tyrant.

"Optimus…" Megatron glared back at the Autobot leader.

Both sides activated their shooter weapons and took aim at each other, ready to send each other to the scrapyard. After a moment of silence-except for the clear sounds of explosions and gunfire out in space-Optimus decided to spoke up.

"I see you found your way to the control room," He said, wondering how Megatron got to him and the Autobots.

"We had a bit of assistance," Megatron replied as a bird-like Decepticon flew into the room, and folded into a disc-like machine and entered into a dark blue 'Con with a head that looked similar to his faction's symbol, but with a red visor.

 _"Soundwave superior, Autobots inferior,"_ The Decepticon said in a cold, robotic tone.

"Ah, shut up, 'Con!" Ironhide snapped, but the 'Con just stared coldly at him.

"It didn't have to come to this, Megatron," Optimus spoke up again, trying to reason with Megatron, "We could have found a way to work together, to save our race."

"Don't act like you don't know why this fighting is happening," Megatron proclaimed, gesturing with his free hand to the chaos all around them, "This is what you chose when you defied me, Optimus; all of this chaos is your doing!"

"Yeah, right," Cliffjumper scoffed at Megatron's claim, "Optimus isn't one for poisoning Cybertron's core, Mega-Dork!"

"We'll see who has the last laugh, Autobot," A red and blue Decepticon with red optics and wings on his back exclaimed.

"Silence, Starscream!" Megatron yelled at the 'Con before continuing, "I will make sure you Autobots will fall and once we cross the portal, the Decepticons will reign supreme across the universe."

"Which is why we won't be defeated, Megatron," Optimus proclaimed, "It is the Autobots' duty to protect the innocent from the forces of tyranny! It is our duty to fight in the name of freedom!"

With that last sentence, Megatron growled before yelling, "DESTROY THEM!"

At that yell, the non combat Autobots took cover behind and underneath the Teletraan consoles, while the others went into an all out brawl with the Decepticons. Cliffjumper and Jazz were fighting as a duo against Soundwave and a few Decepticon drones, having each other's backs all the way. Meanwhile, Ironhide was busy with Starscream, who was being too slick to be tackled. Optimus and Megatron were facing each other head on, but with robotic swords instead of guns. The battle became so relentless, they didn't realize how close to the portal they were, or how much damage both ships were suffering on the way. After a while of fighting, Megatron kicked Optimus back and pointed his cannon at him, charging it up and being ready to fire.

"I win this time, Optimus," Megatron said as his cannon was fully charged, but before he could even fire, the Ark and the Decepticon ship were both shaken. Every 'Bot and 'Con was tripped to the floor as the came closer and closer to the portal. Thinking it was safe enough-despite the unstable shockwaves-Perceptor crawled out of hiding and examined the portal's data.

"Oh, not good," He said in terror before everyone on the Ark felt a pulling force.

"No, the portal!" Megatron exclaimed as everyone tried to grab a hold of something that keep them in place.

"The vortex is tearing the ship apart!" Optimus yelled as he tried crawl forward towards the back of the room. Megatron tried to stop him, but the Autobot leader kicked him towards the front of the control room.

"NO!" He yelled in anger, "I will not be denied!"

 _"Operation: portal survival attemption!"_ Soundwave stated before the Ark started spinning out of control with the Decepticon ship.

"Decepticons!" Starscream activated a commlink in his head, "This is Starscream! Retreat back to the Nemesis! NOW!"

The Decepticon Seeker didn't know if his message went through. All he knew was that both the Ark and Nemesis were about to take a crash course through the portal.

Both ships entered through the portal awkwardly before hurtling through time and space. Where the two factions might end up, no one could guess. As the Autobots and Decepticons hang on for their lives, the Nemesis' tow cables were weakened by the stable shockwaves emitting from the portal's channel. The tethers the broke off, and the Nemesis and all of the Decepticons within hurtled to the edge of the channel and vanished without a trace.

Not long afterwards, the Ark then exited from the portal's channel and was heading for the planet the Autobots were trying to prevent the Decepticons from getting to. Despite the Ark's engines being destroyed, the ship was still heading for the planet's surface awfully fast. Once in the planet's orbit, the ship started to burn up in the atmosphere. Both sides were about to face permanent deactivation as the Ark hurtled to the surface. Just then, Bumblebee entered the control room and headed for the flight controls. To control the eventual crash as much as possible, the Autobot scout pulled back on the directional controls, giving the Ark an almost controlled descent-emphasis on "almost". Bumblebee thought he was doing the best he can, but when he looked up, he saw a mountain of stone, and the Ark was heading right for it.

Bumblebee then turned back to the others and spoke in a few warning beeps. Both the Autobots and Decepticons looked up in front and their optics widened.

 _"Danger imminent!"_ Soundwave exclaimed rather bluntly.

"No shit, Sir Rust-A-Lot!" Cliffjumper replied.

"Everyone, brace for impact!" Optimus yelled as everyone on board held onto something, crossing their fingers they would make it out alive. That was the "least-likely-to-happen" situation because the Ark was so fast, it rammed into the mountain, making a large tremor that could last for miles around. The Autobot ship was then buried by boulder in the mountain, never to be seen again.

* * *

 _ **10 YEARS AGO; SURFACE OF MARS…**_

* * *

Mars… the fourth planet in the Solar System; an uninhabitable world of barren deserts. Years ago the Mars rovers-Opportunity, Spirit and Curiosity-were sent to the fourth planet to investigate anything. For years, the three probes found nothing, but in the November of 2006, due to a malfunction with data reception and transmission, Spirit went offline. Not one of the drones were programmed with repair systems, so they had to send people. In early 2007, the first manned mission to Mars began: find and repair Spirit. The astronauts, codenamed Neural and Connoisseur, rode on the Prominence, the first space vessel designed to make it to Mars and back. Once they made it to Mars, they searched for Spirit as Neural took a deep breath, admiring the scenery.

"Ah, would look at this view," He said in awe, "This place is amazing."

"Yeah, there's nothing more beautiful than barren wasteland of a planet," Connoisseur replied in sarcasm before chuckling a bit, earning another chuckle from Neural, "Be honest here, this is what your heaven looks like, isn't it, Braniac?"

"It's _a_ heaven, yes," Neural said as they climbed a rocky hill, "The greatest heaven I have is a world _without_ war and one where I'm _always_ there for my family."

"Heh, yeah I know," Connoisseur said as he helped him up the hill with his arm, "You and the Misses have been through a lot, how long you've been married now?"

"Uh, we're about to make it to fourteen years," Neural replied as continued walking.

"Four kids?" Connoisseur asked.

"Four kids, soon to be five," Neural asked, "Two sons and two daughters, with another boy coming."

"Wow, big family," Connoisseur whistled.

"What about your family?" Neural asked, "How's the wife and kids?"

"Jenny died about seven months ago, brain cancer," Connoisseur said in a bit of a sad tone.

"Oh… sorry, man,"

"Ah, it's okay, my daughter's still here and she's praying for me to come home soon," Connoisseur answered.

"Same here, but mostly with my youngest son," Neural explained, "Named him Tobias after my father," he then saw something shining from out of the corner of his eye through his helmet and grabbed Connoisseur's shoulder to stop him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Look," Neural pointed to the shining in the distance, "I think we might have found Spirit."

"Let's find out; check the scanner," Connoisseur said before both astronauts walked towards the shining object, "Despite being offline, the rover's computer chip gives off a unique frequency to-"

"Verify location and receive data?" Neural finished with a smile under his helmet. He then checked the scanner on his wrist to detect Spirit's frequency, but data the frequency he was getting was not stable one like the rover's. This one was more vibrant and, and the readings were off the chart.

"Whoa," Neural gasped, "This can't be right."

"What's the matter?" Connoisseur asked as they got closer and closer to the shining object.

"The frequency is transmitting too big a signal to be Spirit," Neural explained as he showed his friend the scanner's readings.

"What kind of device emits that big a signal?" He asked in confusion, "More importantly, how did this device get on Mars?! The only machines on this planet are the three rovers and they aren't that big, and to transmit a signal that big, the device would have to be big and channeling _a lot_ of energy."

"Well, let's find out what it is," Neural suggested as the two arrived to the location of the shining object, only to find no such object. There was no rover, just a dark cave in front of the two astronauts.

"It's… not here?" Neural said in absolute confusion.

"Okay, this is getting weird," Connoisseur said before looking back at the scanner, "But the scanner says the transmission's coming from inside this cave."

"Should we report this back to command?" Neural suggested, thinking they might have made a big discovery.

"What do you think, Braniac?" Connoisseur asked bluntly.

"Good point," Neural replied before he and his partner entered the cave with their lights on, "On small step for a man, one large step for humanity, and two steps closer to the future."

"Whatever you say," Connoisseur replied as the observed the cave. For about five minutes they searched the cave and found nothing, but Connoisseur was still receiving the signal from earlier, only this time it was stronger, "Whoa, the signal's really strong now."

"And look where it's coming from," Neural said as he pointed to in front of them, gesturing his partner to look up. What they saw a piece of Martian rock, but this different from the other rocks.

"A rock? Seriously?" Connoisseur said, not impressed.

"A rock in the shape of a perfect cube," Neural corrected his partner, "Isn't that suspicious?"

"The only thing suspicious here is the abnormally large brain in your ridiculously tiny head," Connoisseur said, but his partner ignored him and approached the cube, "What do you think you think your doing, man?"

"Making a discovery of a lifetime," Neural said before standing in front of the cube and tried to lift it up, but was having trouble doing so, seeing as it was heavy, "Ah, heavier than it looks, man."

"Hold on, Braniac, let me help," Connoisseur said as he arrived to help him lift the object, "Gah, your right, this thing is heavy."

"Which is strange for a small object being on a planet with less gravity," Neural said before the block started to glow, "What the… what's happening?"

"I'm starting to get a really bad feeling about this," Connoisseur said as the rock around the cube began to break off before the astronauts screamed.

* * *

 _ **5 MONTHS LATER; BACK ON EARTH…**_

* * *

After the unsuccessful mission, the two astronauts returned to Earth. They revealed the Martian artifact to NASA and convinced them that it could be a sign that there actually could be alien life. The government decided to bring together the United Nations to share their discovery of the artifact, giving it the name of "Pandora's Box". Many people were excited to see Pandora's Box, the most excited amongst them were the family of the astronaut Neural: the Franklins.

The Franklins' entered the area to see the unveiling of Pandora's Box, along with world leaders and international reporters. The wife of Mister Franklin was a 5 foot and 7 inch tall woman with blonde hair, green eyes and light skin, wearing a blue long sleeve shirt with a black tank top underneath and a long blue skirt reaching her knees. In her arms was her new baby boy wrapped in a blue swaddle blanket, sucking on a green pacifier with his eyes closed and asleep, despite all the chatty reporters and diplomats. The oldest franklin child was an eleven year-old boy with blonde hair, tan skin and blue eyes, wearing a orange-yellow shirt with and gray shorts. The second oldest was an eight-year-old girl with turquoise eyes, light skin and light brown hair in a ponytail, dressed in a white shirt with patterns of colorful flowers and blue pants. The middle child was a tan-skinned girl about six years old with green eyes and dark blonde hair, wearing a hot pink shirt, light blue headband, and blue shorts. The last of the children was a five-year-old boy with dark brown hair-almost pitch black-light skin, and two different colored eyes-a blue iris in the right eye, and a red iris in the right. He was wearing a shirt with a diagonal red and blue pattern and a pair of black shorts. The wife and kids were looking for the man of the family within this crowd of controlled chaos.

"Mommy?" The youngest daughter spoke up, feeling nervous about being surrounded by so many tall people.

"Yes, Sweetie?" The mother replied.

"Can we please go home?" The daughter asked.

"Not yet, we're here for Daddy," She told her daughter, "He should be here any minute."

"Well, I hope we get to see Pandora's Box," The oldest son said in excitement.

"Me too, Jacob," The second son agreed with an equal amount of thrill, "Maybe aliens left it there for Dad to find."

"Aliens? Get real," The oldest daughter said in disbelief, "It's just a block they found on Mars."

"Don't knock it 'till you see it for yourself, Sis," Jacob stated.

"Now, now, children," Their mother stopped the argument before it could begin, "Let's not fight, and on the way home, we'll get some ice cream."

"YAY!" The children cheered before realizing their baby brother was still sleeping and covered their mouths with their hands. It surprised them that he was still sleeping and not crying.

"I thought I heard you all cheering," The family heard a familiar voice and turned to see their father-the astronaut codenamed Neural. He was a man in his late thirties with brown hair, tan skin and blue eyes. He wore a blue NASA astronaut uniform with a red shirt underneath.

With smiles on their faces, one-by-one, the children all ran to him, about to hug him tightly, starting with the youngest son. The astronaut crouched down and opened his arms as his son wrapped his around him tightly.

"Hey, Toby, good see you after so long," he said before looking down at the rest of his children, "You kids, too."

"We missed you, Daddy," The oldest daughter said.

"I missed you all, too, Clarissa," He replied as he petted his daughter's head. He then looked to up to see his wife and newborn son approaching him.

"Say hello to Maxwell Franklin Junior, Dear," The held up the child to her husband. When he saw him, Maxwell Franklin Senior saw him, a few tears escaped his eyes.

"Hey there, Max," He held a hand to the baby's head. Maxwell Senior then noticed his youngest daughter looking at him confused.

"Are you sad, Daddy?" She asked.

"Uh… no, Clarissa," Maxwell replied as he wiped away his tears, "Just happy to see you all again."

"We're happy to see you, too, Maxwell," The wife agreed as Maxwell hugged her, while trying not to crush the baby, and the two shared a loving kiss.

"Ew!" Jacob, Toby and Clarissa said in unison and disgust as their parents ended the kiss.

"I think it's beautiful," Katherine flickered her eyes with a smile, disagreeing with her siblings.

"Of course you do, you're a girl!" Jacob exclaimed, earning a glare from his sister.

"Ah, kids these days," Maxwell sighed before hearing someone clear their throat. Turned around and saw one of his fellow employees looking at and pointing at the watch, gesturing him that it was almost time for the revealing of Pandora's Box.

"Heh, duty calls, Maria," He said to his wife before turning to the kids, "Sorry, you little monsters, but Daddy's got to do something, before we catch up on anything."

"Aww," The kids all said in disappointment.

"Ah, don't worry, kids," Maxwell said, "It'll be quick, and you get to see me up there."

"Yeah!" Toby and the others shouted in excitement before their father walked towards the presentation area.

"I'll be right up here if you need anything," Maxwell said before the loudspeaker rang.

"Attention, all viewers, please, take your seats," The man at the center of the unveiling, "The Unveiling Ceremony is about to begin!"

"Alright, kids, let's find some seats," Maria said as the family all took some seats close to each other. Just then, a man in his forties approached the microphone upfront and began to speak.

"Hello there, my name is Doctor Shinobu Katsuragi," The lead scientist introduced himself, "Today, we start the journey of a thousand miles with a single step: Pandora's Box!"

The lead scientist gestured to a case covered by a sheet before two men uncovered Pandora's Box underneath. The flashes of taking pictures started up along with an applause at the sight of the Martian artifact. Tobias was extremely excited to see Pandora's Box, as seen by the large smile on his face.

"The mysteries hiding in space…" He continued to explain, "…the answers to the questions humanity has been searching for countless generations could possibly be hidden within the Martian artifact."

"We of Project Prominence would like to reveal our groundbreaking results today," Tobias was having the time of his life, but out of the corner of his left eye, among the NASA workers was man in uniform with his NASA cap lowered down just enough to cover the top half of his face, which gave him an uneasy feeling, "We have brought an object considered to be made by a certain civilization from Mars to here in the United States," Just as he finished his sentence, the mysterious figure ran into him, pushing him out of the way. Everyone gasped at this development as the stranger ran towards the Box.

"Hold it right there!" One of the security guards exclaimed as a couple of them tried to hold him back. He had to have been working out as he was pushing the guards back towards the Box.

"Stop!" Maxwell Franklin Senior exclaimed as he joined the guards, but was unable to keep him back. This worried the Franklin family as the guards all shouted.

"Don't come closer!" All the shouting was making Maxwell Franklin Junior cry.

The man already reached Pandora's Box before removing and breaking the glass case. Everyone was in a panic now.

 _"DON'T!"_

The attempt to apprehend the perpetrator was a fail as he already placed his hand on Pandora's Box. As soon as he did, the artifact began to emit a light brighter than the one on Mars. Everyone shielded their eyes before it began to die down, only for an earthquake to shake the ground. The ground the started to break open and red energy came out from the ground.

 _"EVERYBODY RUN!"_

The yelling put everyone into a panic, making them all run in opposite directions. But followed by the red energy was a colossal structure that was reaching up to the sky and scattering in three directions, destroying everything in their paths. The Franklins were all running towards the East as people were being lifted up into the air by an abnormality in the area's gravity. But Toby stopped to see if his father was right behind them. The dust was nowhere near clear, but he decided to call out for his dad.

"Dad?" Toby said in confusion as when the wall continued to rise from the ground further up the sky, with no sign of his father, _"Dad!"_

He shouted out for his father, hoping for an answer, not that he could hear with all screaming, explosions and ground collapsing. Tears filled the boy's eyes, for he feared his was no longer there. Toby began to hyperventilate from a combination of horror, stress and sadness as he shouted one last time with all his power.

 _"DAD!?"_ As he screamed one last time before another explosion occurred from the center of the wall, nearly blinding him with another light flash.

* * *

 _ **PRESENT DAY**_

* * *

 _"TOBIAS!"_

A fourteen-year-old Tobias awoke from sleeping and fell out of his bed, startled by the call of his name. He groaned as he got up from the floor by grabbing the top of the bed. Tobias then rubbed his head as he was trying to wake himself up.

Tobias now lived with his mother and his siblings, in a house funded by his father's old friend. In his room was a six-foot long bed, a brown desk, a white dresser with a built-in mirror and a walk-in closet. Around the large room were walls covered posters of various animals and machines.

"That memory again," Tobias said before looking at his watch, "Hm, resting time is over for now," He then walked into his closet to change clothes from he pick from both the closet and the dresser. When he emerged, he was wearing his signature red and blue shirt with black sweatpants, and two colored shoes that matched his shirt and eyes.

"Tobias, are you awake?" His mother's voice called out to him.

"Coming, Mom!" Tobias replied as he opened his door and went down the stairs. He then saw his family eating breakfast-scrambled eggs and waffles-with the Tv on.

"Waffles and bacon, all a part of a nutritious breakfast," Tobias said as he sat down at the table and got his breakfast.

His siblings were now ten years older from the incident with Pandora's Box. Jacob was now 21 and part of the local police force, as seen by the uniform. Katherine was now 18, wearing a blue shirt, leather jacket, and denim jeans, and was in her final year of high school. Clarissa was 16 now, and she was about to enter her third year of high school, wearing a pink shirt with a blue jacket and shorts. Maxwell Franklin Junior was now ten years old and in elementary school, wearing all green. His mother was now in her forties in a business uniform: a white dress with a blue tie. His entire family has changed since the incident, mostly Tobias.

As he ate his breakfast, his mother asked, "How'd you sleep, Sweetie?"

"Like a restless zombie, Mom," Tobias answered as he looked up at the Tv, seeing some important people giving a speech about Pandora's Box.

 _"Research on Pandora's Box is a slow process, but the Eastern Division's Institute of Advanced Matter Physics are slowly making progress with what it's capable of."_

"Ha! What it's capable of is tearing the world apart," Katherine proclaimed.

"I agree, if NASA hadn't found that thing, that giant wall wouldn't have appeared!" Jacob exclaimed as gestured out the window with his fork.

The Sky Wall; the very construct that emerged from the ground when Pandora's Box was activated. The entire wall was made to an impossible length in three directions, extending from Chico, California, to the coordinates on the opposite side of the world. Since then, the planet was divided into three regions, each with its own capital and responsibilities: Terraform City in the North Division which focused on repairing social welfare, Seafront City in the West Division, focusing on repairing the world's economy, and Tobias' home, Skyline City in the East Division, the part of the world which maintains pacifism. The world was now divided and difference of opinion drove the three sides further apart. Tobias couldn't help but _partially_ agree with his brother and sister.

"Not to mention, that stranger from the Sky Wall Disaster," He added, "I don't know what possessed him to touch Pandora's Box."

"Well, he better pray to God that I don't catch him," Jacob seethed in anger before a timer went off. He looked down to his wrist and saw watch was beeping, "And my dayjob beckons."

Jacob stood up from his seat and grabbed his police hat from the hat rack. Before he could walk out the door, his mother approached him and kissed his cheek.

"Go get 'em, sweetie," Maria whispered in his ear, "And, please, be careful."

"Always am, Mom," Jacob opened the door to head out, "See you tonight, guys."

"See ya!" Jacobs siblings answered.

"Hey, Mom, who was the man who touched the Box?" Maxwell asked.

"I… I don't know, sweetie," She hesitated to answer.

"Oh, okay," The youngest boy smiled before going upstairs, probably to get ready for school.

'Ah, Max, it's a good thing you're cute,' Tobias though with a smirk before finishing his breakfast, "Race you guys to school?"

"Oh, your on, little bro," Katherine said as the two stood up, grabbed their bags and backpacks before running out the door, leaving Clarissa behind.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Clarissa said before saving her breakfast with her mouth before grabbing her backpack and following them, passing her mother on the way out.

"Be careful, kids, and don't get into any trouble!" Maria called out them, unsure if they heard her or not. The three kids were now running off to their school, with Tobias in second place behind Katherine. Little did the boy know he was being watched by someone in the shadows.

A dark figure in a nearby alley watched Tobias and his sisters run to school, and with an dark smirk under a scarf, he seethed.

"You're getting wrapped up too far into our plans, Tobias… _very_ too far…"

* * *

 _ **Author's Notes: Hey guys, this Fanficmaster2.0 speaking! Sorry for being inactive for so long, but I've been contemplating, mostly about a new story series I'm making. It's called the OC Kamen Rider Crossover Series-I got an idea similar to how Striberx made his Kamen Rider-My Hero Academia crossover. I know I'm not exactly going chronologically here, given that Build is the latest Rider. But hey, can't blame me for liking Build. Anyway, I've already made ideas for crossovers with different Kamen Rider seasons and various Tv shows, anime and cartoons, except for OOO. So if you can, please give me some ideas. That's all for see you next time!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hey, I'm back, and here's the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy! And sorry I took so long!** **  
**_

* * *

 _ **One Best Match is More Than Meets the Eye Part 2**_

 _ **Disappearance! The Student's Blank Memory!**_

The Academy of Internal and External Affairs of Pacifism-AIXAP for short. This is the school that Tobias, Katherine and Clarissa went to. If a person wants to have a good job and lifestyle these days, then this is the school where they can make their success a reality. Today, Tobias' mostly trying to get a degree good enough to get into the institute where Pandora's Box is being held and studied on. Tobias' also hoping to get a chance to find out where his father disappeared to.

In the event of the Sky Wall tragedy, many people were reported dead or missing. Only a select few of the people missing were found and rescued. Others were found dead but brought back for proper burials. The rest of the people were presumed to have been killed by Pandora's Wrath-the codename of the earthquake caused by the Sky Wall-and were unable to be recovered. Tobias' father was one of those people. But Tobias never gave up. He could feel it in his heart that his father could still be alive, and Pandora's Box was the key to finding him.

Tobias was sitting in his English class, reading a book about poetry. In his head, he was hoping the period would end soon, then it would be off to lunch for him, for his stomach was rumbling in starvation. As soon as he began to read a chapter on Shakespeare's use of poetry in his plays, the lunch bell rang.

'Thank god, I felt like I was about to pass out,' Tobias thought in relief as he, along with everyone else, got up from their seats and headed out of the class for lunch.

"Remember your assignment: I want you to find three songs and define their poetry," Their teacher told them, "Extra credit if it's four songs."

"No problem, Mister Teja," Tobias said before he left the room to the cafeteria.

When he reached the cafeteria, he was searching for a place to sit. In his hands was a tray with a slice of pizza, apple slices, a water bottle and a banana. Since the cafeteria was so full, it was hard for him to find a spot, especially since there were few bullies who wanted to hurt him for no good reason. Since he was a smart kid, he was treated a bit like an outcast, as well as a target for bullies. Basically, since first grade, Tobias had almost no one to be there for him. But there was one group of people who were always there for him, and Tobias saw them at a table nearby.

Angus Drake: member of the martial arts club, and best friend and classmate of Tobias, ever since first grade. A bit of a hot head, but always there for his friends, especially Tobias. Angus was a sixteen-year-old boy with light brown hair, light tan skin and blue eyes. He was wearing a blue shirt with the yellow outlines of a tiger on the front, a black jacket with blue flames on the jacket and a pair of jeans, torn at the knees. He is known for having a hard and crusty shell, but Angus is one who stands up for those who can't stand up for themselves. Angus and Tobias were closer than brothers, but people find that hard to believe, given that they considered the two boys were like opposites of each other-while Tobias is more kind and relies on logic and reason, Angus can be a bit arrogant and aggressive, although he does have a sense of justice.

Cyrus Jones: musician and teenage guitarist. He was a fifteen-year-old boy with a head of long, messy, brown hair with a streak of cyan dye, tan skin and blue eyes. Cyrus wore a light blue shirt with torn sleeves and musical notes in front, a pair of dark gray shorts, and metal bracelet with a cyan guitar keychain on it. Strapped to his back was a blue axe guitar with neon yellow lightning bolts. Tobias has known Cyrus ever since fourth grade, always listening to all kinds of music, but mostly Japanese rock and pop. He basically added a bit of background music to their circle of friends whenever they're in a situation. Cyrus is known for entering all the school concerts and being the number one teen musician to ever attend this school. Tobias especially knows him for getting secret admirer letters from just about every girl in the school. Not much of a secret now that the two of them think of that.

Daniel Webber: the joker of the group, always making people smile, even if it is just bad puns. He's a fifteen-year-old with light brown hair, brown eyes and white skin. His attire was a light green shirt with the black outline of a lion's head on it, blue shorts and a white visor. Daniel added some charisma to the team and always tried to cheer up his friends. Both Tobias and the Academy know him and his reputation for causing a _large_ amount of pranks, all the way back to Tobias' third grade. Usually these pranks are harmless and hilarious gags, but as a last resort, Daniel will use them to teach bullies lessons about harming him and his friends. Every now and then, Daniel is seen at performances and birthday parties. If there's one person you can count on to make you smile, look no further than Daniel. Just make sure not to trigger his puns.

Lana Stein: the group's athlete and daredevil. She was a sixteen-year-old Chinese American girl with a head of light brown hair, green eyes, and light tan skin. She wore a white t-shirt with long orange sleeves and an orange zero in front, and a pair of gray shorts with matching shoes. The group has known her since fifth grade, and they definitely know her reputation for winning a lot of track and field races. Lana is known around the school for her unbelievable athletics. She is in the top ten athletes in the school, but why she's hanging out people like Tobias and his friends, no one knows. They haven't known them as long as she has, so they have no right to say such things about them. The boys also know her for being fearless in the face of danger. Being the daughter of a famous athlete, Lana has appeared to be afraid of nothing… so far. Tobias and the others still try to find something she's afraid of, especially on Halloween.

Tobias smiled at the sight of his friends and began to walk towards them. As he did though, he felt like was being watched. He turned his head both ways to see who was looking at, and he could see, out of the corner of his eye, a group of annoying jocks glaring at him in anger. He sighed in annoyance, knowing these people were never gonna stop looking at him. One of the jocks he recognized all too well; Jay Harrison was Tobias' bully child nemesis ever since elementary school. He always tortured the boy because he was the class nerd and teacher's pet in every single grade. In some cases, Jay would threaten Tobias, but in others, he would physically harm Tobias and others kids, somehow getting away with his crimes against the school. He would also recruit the meanest and nastiest bullies in the school to ever-growing "Bully Brigade," as Tobias and friends would call them. Tobias always knows of his actions, but won't reveal Jays sins until he does something really bad; he will only use this leverage against Jay as a last resort.

Tobias ignored the glares Jay and his cronies were giving him and continued to his friends' table and spoke, "Hey guys."

The heads of his friends turned and smiled at the sight of Tobias, the brains of their circle of friends. Angus scooted over to make room for his best friend as he sat down.

"Hey there, Tobes," Angus replied as Tobias eating his lunch, "What's shaking?"

"Eh, not much; still the same old classes I have every day," Tobias said bluntly, "Nothing really exciting."

"Same here, Bro," Cyrus agreed as he adjusted the strings on his guitar, "Nothing exciting ever happens here… 'cept maybe the girls walking by…" Cyrus noticed two young, attractive girls walking past them and winked at them, resulting in them giggling as they walked off.

"Pfft," Lana scoffed, "Lady Killer."

"More like _'Lady Rocker!' HA!"_ Daniel laughed at his own pun as the others groaned.

"That's just strange, man," Tobias said before taking a bite of his apple slices.

"So, you guys doing anything after school?" Lana asked, hoping for a really good excuse for all of them to hang out.

"Had a band session, but it got cancelled," Cyrus answered, lightly strumming his guitar, "A few of them got grounded and are supposed to head home after school."

"Yikes," Angus winced before answering the question, "Just got a half hour at the Martial Arts Club, but after that I'll meet up with you guys."

"Got nothin' better to do," Daniel added, "Did most of my homework in Academic Support,"

"So you three are in?" Lana asked, receiving nods from her friends, "Nice! What about you, Tobes?"

"Me?" Tobias asked before looking up his schedule on his phone, "Uh, I promised Mister Benson I'd help out on his truck, and then I'll be at the shelter doing some volunteer work."

Lana and the others looked disappointed, "Oh, so you'll be busy,"

"Not quite, guys," Tobias corrected them, getting them all curious, "I just need to help Mister Benson install some new lights he bought, which'll only take about three to five minutes, and all the shelter wants me to do today is check up on the animals, feed and water them, and make sure their units are both clean locked. After those two errands, I'll meet you guys at the HQ like usual."

"Nice!" The group exclaimed as they high fived each other. From the opposite end of the cafeteria, Jay Harrison growled at the happy group, especially at Tobias. Jay always hated how Tobias was having a better social life and being a smart kid. He was one of those high school stereotypes that think people shouldn't belong in groups they don't belong in. In this cas, Jay hated how Tobias was an inquisitive teenager that has a group of friends with mixed personalities.

Jay grabbed a whole apple from his tray and practically crushed it the palm of his hands in hatred.

"God, I hate that Franklin kid," He mumbled to himself.

"What up, Boss man?" A tall, skinny crony of him asked.

"I'll tell you what's up: I'm tired of that nerd always being the better man," Jay replied, "Always following the rules like a teacher's pet and not knowing where his place is."

"Uh, doesn't he live on 2519 Newton Street?" A shorter, _larger_ crony asked in confusion, earning him a smack on the back of the head.

"Not what he meant, Idiot," the crony who was about the same size as Jay said.

"Oh, I can't wait to put his sorry ass into the ground, I tell you," He seeth as he continued to glare at Tobias and his group of friends.

"Well, if you can't wait, why don't you?" The skinny crony asked.

"Ah, Jerry, loyal you are, visionary on the other hand, not so much," Jay took another bite out of his apple, "The school's got cameras everywhere. If just one of those eyes-in-the-sky spot us tryin' to hurt Franklin, we're as good as dead."

"So then what, Boss?" The third crony asked.

"I'll tell you what, boys," Jay began to explain their plan as they all huddled up, "First we-"

The boys were cut off by the sound of the bell, indicating the end of lunch period. They all groaned in disappointment, but Jay said one last thing before leaving

"Meet me after school and I'll tell you all the plan," He said before leaving for his next class like the other students.

When his last class finally ended, Tobias was at his locker checking up on a few things. The inside of his green locker was an organized variety of books, papers and assignments for each of his classes, as well as some miscellaneous items. On the pile of papers, a plastic gorilla was acting as paperweight. Hanging from the clothing hooks was a metal locket in the shape a light bulb. The inside of the locker door had animal magnets holding up pictures of memorable events in Tobias' life; some of them were pictures of him and his family and friends. One particular picture was taken when he was four years old… when his father was still alive. The picture showed Tobias in his father's arms, both of them smiling.

Tobias couldn't help but sigh in depression, missing his father so much since that fateful day. However, while the professionals presumed him to be killed, Tobias didn't think so. Every once in a while he goes online and looks for anyone from the Sky Wall Incident who have been claimed as alive. Tobias' mother tried to convince a few friends from the government to continue the search, but keep getting told "no", making them feel like their hope has faded away. But Tobias never lost hope, and he _never_ will.

Tobias then grabbed the locket and wrapped it around his neck before shutting the locker door. He then went outside the school, texted his family he was going to be out for a while and went to help Mister Benson. Little did he know he was being watched by Jay and his cronies.

"Alright, there he goes," Jay watched him jog off.

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" The short crony tried to follow Tobias, but was stopped by his boss.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait," Jay said as he saw Tobias get out of sight. His cronies were shocked at Jay letting him go like that.

"What the hell, Boss Man?!" Jerry exclaimed.

"First, we gain a little distance from him," Jay began to explain as he cracked his knuckles, "Once we have enough, we follow him to that little animal kingdom of his, and the next thing he'll know is the moment he was in a world of pain."

"Oh, I get ya, Boss," the third crony said.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Jay finally spoke up.

"Alright, let's go," He said as they all ran off after Tobias, getting ready to put him out of his misery.

* * *

Tobias was now finishing with the new lights for Mister Benson's black pickup truck. Once he felt like he was finished, he spoke to Mister Benson, a fifty-year old man with brown hair and beard, pale skin and green eyes, who wore a red and black checkered, button-up shirt with blue jeans.

"Try it now," He said as Mister Benson started the truck and turned the light switch on and off.

"They're working great, Toby!" He said, looking at the new lights, "Thanks for the help."

"No problem," Tobias said before looking at his watch.

 _'Still got plenty of time to head to the animal shelter and meet up with my friends afterwards,'_ He thought before telling Mister Benson, "Got to get going, Mister Benson, got some volunteer work to do."

"Really, then what are you doing standing around here?" The older man said rhetorically, "Go, go, go!"

On that note, Tobias ran off to the shelter, but not with saying, "Bye, Mister Benson!"

"See ya later, Toby," Benson said before driving off.

As Tobias was rushing over to the shelter, he didn't notice that someone in the alleys was following him. The figure stepped out of the alley briefly so no one would notice him as he spoke silently.

 _"Don't think you're getting away from me that easily,"_ He seethed before vanishing into the dark alley.

After a few minutes of running, Tobias finally made it to the shelter. The animal shelter always felt like a second home to him. At times when he feels most people don't understand him, he feels closer to animals. It's actually one of his dreams to be a biologist alongside a physicist; that way he can help endangered animals. However, despite being a smart kid, he needs to get his grades in his science classes up.

True, Tobias is a smart kid, but when it comes to advanced chemistry and physics, he's got an average grade. To be in the Eastern Division's Institute of Advanced Matter Physics, he has to get his grades up to A's. To him, both subjects are difficult, but he's not known for giving up easily. All it takes is one little shot to understand physics and chemistry. Unfortunately, he's running low on shots.

"Alright, if I remember correctly, Doctor Ramirez keeps the key…" Tobias began as he searched for the entrance key. He moved a couple of flower pots, looked under the doormat, above the door, but when he kicked rock, it made a rattling sound. Tobias looked down saw said rock and noticed it had a plastic side. He then picked it up and rotated the bottom of the fake rock, revealing the key.

"Ah… in the hide-a-key rock," Tobias took out the key and unlocked the door. He entered the shelter and saw a whole lot of animals in their units getting excited to see him.

"Hey, guys, did you miss me?" He asked, receiving a variety of happy animal sounds, "Thought so. Now let's get to work."

Tobias then entered the back room to gather the supplies for the animals. He managed to find a trash can, some shavings, and water jugs to replace the water dispensers. The food dispenser he was going to do last. But before Tobias could grab them, he heard a bell ring, indicating that there was someone entered the shelter. Tobias then circled back to the main area, knowing this would cause a fuss among the animals.

"Sorry, but the shelter's closed, you'll have to-" Tobias was cut off from his sentence when he noticed Jay and his cronies standing in the center of the room.

"Jay…" He seethed in both annoyance and concern, "What do you want?"

"I believe you know the answer to that, Franklin," Jay replied as his cronies locked the door.

"So this is what's gonna happen?" Tobias said bluntly, "I figured you'd be more mature about our rivalry, clearly I was wrong."

 _"'More mature'?"_ Jay quirked a brow as his cronies surrounded Tobias, "What's that supposed to mean, Nerd?"

"I mean, every single day you act like a spoiled brat, just because your family's wealthy," Tobias made aggressively clear, "You make fun of people who are bullied, you bully people who appear to be weak, you threaten people to keep quiet about the things you do, you are offensively stereotypical, and you use all your family fortunes to buy all the stuff you want. In fact, you'd probably take stuff that's not yours anyway!"

Those words made Jay more and more angry at his nemesis. He knew this time he would kill Tobias and bury the body where no one would find it. He just needs Franklin to say one last thing.

"All that information adds to you being… what are the words I'm looking for?" He asked a rhetorical question.

 _"Ragh! A dumbass with no future!"_ Screeched a parrot, making Tobias smirk and making Jay get covered in angry stress marks.

"I taught you well, Paul," Tobias chuckled before finding himself being grabbed by four cronies, "Hey, let me go!"

"That's it, Franklin!" Jay seethed as he rolled up his sleeve, "Better hope to God that he'll let you live!"

"Oh, Son of a-" Tobais found himself getting punched by Harrison repeatedly in the face and torso, making every animal in the shelter panic. The cronies then began to laugh as they witnessed Tobias getting put out of his misery. After a few minutes of meaningless punch-throwing, Tobias was now covered in bruises, a black eye, a dislocated shoulder, and worst of all, a bleeding mouth.

Jay thought it was enough beating for one day as he said, "Let him go, boys."

Harrison snapped his fingers, signaling his cronies, but they did not follow orders.

"Uh, didn't you hear me?" He snapped his fingers again before noticing the looks on their faces-looks of fear, "What's wrong with you guys?"

The tall skinny one managed to point with his free hand, but it was shaking in fear. Jay noticed this hand was pointing right behind him, so he chose to turn around and see what they were looking at.

But by now, Jay wish he didn't as he was now petrified in fear. Tobias, after regaining consciousness, then saw what they were looking at. Or more specifically, _who_ they were looking at. Tobias recognized the person, only he wished he didn't.

"Ugh, you…?" He groaned in pain before the figure held out a gun-like weapon with a black and silver steampunk vibe, with red, green and yellow wires being shown on the sides. It also had some sort of insertion clip for some reason.

 _ **Transteam Gun!**_

The mysterious figure then used this gun to somehow make the entire shelter covered in steam. This made the animals panic even more as grunting sounds from the school jocks. Tobias then fell to the floor as he felt the cronies holding slip away. After about thirty whole seconds, Tobias looked up weakly at who attacked his attackers. He saw the figure in the steam approach and crouch down to him.

 _"You're getting too exposed for us to do this, Tobias,"_ He spoke in an echoing voice, _"It's time to start the revolution!"_

"N-Never…" Tobias grunted before blacking out completely.

 _"Nonsense, Kiddo,"_ The figure proclaimed as he picked up Tobias and carried him over his shoulder, _"The time has come to embrace your destiny!"_

* * *

Angus, Daniel, Cyrus and Lana were now waiting at their usual HQ: the scrapyard. This scrapyard was actually bought by Tobias' father years ago to take things apart and build something new. Now, it's completely abandoned with the only people coming in and out are Tobias and his friends. Besides them, nobody else knows this place exist.

Angus was pacing back and forth impatiently, wondering why Tobias was taking so long to meet them. Cyrus was adjusting the strings of his guitars, trying to come up with a new song just to pass the time. Daniel was writing down jokes in his joke book so he could use them in future events. Lana was hanging from a metal bar and practicing her chin-ups. In their own unique ways, the four friends were all bored half to death and getting more and more impatient with Tobias. They knew it would be a while for him to get to the scrapyard, but they didn't think it would take him until sunset to finish up at the shelter.

"Ah, what the hell," Angus kicked a can into a pile of scrap, "What's taking Tobes so long?"

"Yeah, dudes, it's already sunset," Cyrus added to Angus' statement, "I though Toby said he would be here straight here after he was done. And normally, it would take about a half-hour to jog here from the shelter."

"Maybe… he had to… change schedule…" Lana suggested as she pulled herself up and down, "78… 79… 80… 81…"

"Without letting us know?" Daniel quirked a brow in disbelief, "Don't you think that's kinda concerning?"

"Maybe…" Lana replied, "86… 87… 88…"

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm calling him and giving him a piece of my mind," Angus said aggressively before taking out his phone and dialed the number of Tobias' phone just as aggressively.

"Whoa, man, don't you think that's a little rash?" Daniel asked, hoping for a reason why Tobias hasn't arrived or called.

"And not telling your friends anything isn't?" Angus asked, making a point Daniel couldn't argue with. Angus then held the phone up to his ear waiting for him to respond, after fifteen seconds of waiting, Tobias finally picked up.

"Hey, man, you've got a lot of explaining to do!" Angus yelled into the phone, "I'm telling you, if you're gonna change schedules, at least let your friends know so we don't have to wait until FRICKIN' SUNSET at the scrapyard! YOU HEAR ME!? FRICKIN'-"

 _"Angus, is there a reason why you're yelling?"_ A familiar voice from the opposite end of the call answered.

"Jacob?" Angus said, making his friends turn their heads towards him, "Did I dial the wrong number?"

 _"No, you called my brother's cell,"_ Jacob replied, slightly irritated by the yelling.

"Well, why do you have Tobes' phone?" Angus asked in curiosity as Lana got down from the metal bar and approached Angus with Daniel and Cyrus, "And why are there sirens in the background?"

 _"Wait, Toby's not with you?"_ Jacob asked in shock, ignoring the second question.

"No, like I said in the yelling, we've been waiting for hours and he hasn't shown up," Angus answered, but was growing a bit more concerned, "Why?"

 _"I don't think you'll like the answer,"_ Jacob said hesitantly, getting Angus more and more confused.

Jacob told Angus what happened, getting the others more confused and worried. Angus then removed the phone from his face and faced the others, with a shocked look on his face.

"So?" Lana asked.

"What's up?" Cyrus added.

"Is something wrong? Daniel finally asked.

Tobias' friends then found themselves running towards the animal shop. Angus told the others what happened, and in shock and hurry, they sped off like speeding bullets. They arrived at the animal shelter after twenty minutes of running, thanks to all the green lights they passed. When they arrived they saw ambulances and a couple of police cars in front of the shelter.

"Jacob!" Angus called out for Tobias' older brother. Jacob heard his brother's friend turned around, seeing all of Tobias' friends heading towards. "What happened?!"

"Someone broke into the animal shelter and attacked a few classmates of yours," Jacob answered, showing them the mess inside, "Jay Harrison is one of them, he's being taken into the ambulance over there."

"Jay Harrison?" Lana echoed before seeing Tobias' bully on a gurney heading to the ambulance. They noticed he was covered in bruises, gashes and cuts from some kind of blade, "Hmph! Good riddance."

"Yeah, but where's Tobes?" Angus asked in concern.

"We're still looking for him," Jacob said as he observed forensic scientists looking for anything that might tell them where Tobias went, "The break-in and commotion was reported by the flower shop owner across the street. So far we found signs of a struggle between Tobias, and his classmates and bully."

"And an intruder, Officer Franklin," An african american forensics scientist with glasses approached him with a Surface Pro between his arm and body, "The struggling indicated that there was a seventh person attacking the boys. We also found large quantities of moisture on every metal surface and window."

"So whoever entered doused them all with water?" Daniel asked in confusion.

"Not quite," The forensic scientist said before standing his Surface Pro on the hood of a car, "I managed to pull off some footage from a couple of security cameras in shelter, but…"

"But the cameras are old?" Cyrus hazarded a guess, leaving them all with questionable looks, "I've been here before and I noticed all the cameras aren't exactly up to date."

"Ah, good observation, young man," The scientist said before bringing up the footage, "Here we go, this video might be a bit on the fritz so we may not see a few things."

"Just _play_ it," Jacob ordered and the scientist obeyed them as he played the footage. They saw everything, from the time Jacob entered the shelter, to when Jay and his goons attacked him, to when a mysterious figure in red armor attacked them and took Tobias with him when he left. They also heard a few things, including what Jay was saying

"Son of a…" Angus glared at Jay and his goons as they were being sent off.

"Jay attacked my brother, and then my brother wound up kidnapped," Jacob gritted his teeth in anger, Officer Ericson, have Jay Harrison and his friends be charged with assault when they get of the hospital, they're going away for a long time!"

"Yes, sir!" Officer Ericson replied.

"What about the mysterious figure?" Lana asked.

"Luckily, the footage of when the masked man attacked the boys was clear of static, but the device he used was some kind steam emitter, making it impossible to see what exactly happened," The scientist clarified.

"Hence all the moisture," Daniel understood now, "What else?"

"Well, this part you might find a bit disturbing," The scientist replayed the video, starting at when he approached Tobias, only with sound.

 _"It's time to start the revolution!"_

With confused looks looks, Jacob and the kids looked at each other in concern.

"'Revolution?'" Angus asked, "What does that mean?"

"I don't know, Angus," Jacob said with a stern look, "But I'm not gonna stop until I find my brother's kidnapper!"

* * *

One half week later, Tobias was still missing, with his family and friends worried sick about him. The police have all been put on high alert and have been ordered keep a watchful eye on everyone in the city, to see if there's a certain pattern. So far, there have been no leads, but that's not stopping the cops, especially not Jacob.

Jacob was at his desk logging his latest reports on his computer. He was pressing each key rather aggressively, still upset that his brother was kidnapped. His partner, Officer Shauna Takamoto, a 23-year old Japanese-American woman with green eyes, tan skin and brown hair, noticed the stern look on his face and spoke to him.

"Hey," Jacob responded by turning his head towards her, "Don't worry, we'll find your brother."

"God, I hope so," Jacob grunted in anger, "That stupid Harrison kid was completely useless."

"Agreed," Shauna replied, knowing he was right. Jay Harrison had no idea who the kidnapper was. That didn't help him with his trial though; Jay and his gang were all under arrest for assault and expelled from AIXAP, making sure he was never allowed near school again when he gets out. That didn't make Jacob feel better, it never will until Tobias returns.

The radio on Jacob's suit then spoke, "This is Detective Diaz, I'm at the corner of Washington and Caesar Street, reporting a 459, 240 and 207 in a nearby apartment building."

Jacob's eyes widened at this new development. Another kidnapping in a short amount of time means it's possibly the same kidnapper. Jacob then replied, "This is Officer Franklin, we're on on our way!"

"We are?" His partner asked as he stood up and began to leave the station.

"Yes, we are…"

After a half-hour of driving, Jacob and his partner made it to the crime scene and saw a possible victim, a girl in her early twenties, on a gurney. Jacob and Shauna then got out of the car and spoke to the officer who called it in.

"What do we got, Detective?" Jacob asked with determination.

"Vic's name is Donna Winters, 19 years old, community college student, lives in this apartment," Detective Diaz explained, "Neighbor reported some masked figure enter her apartment with a gun and blade."

"Hence all the cuts on her body," Shauna clarified.

"The figure then entered the apartment and locked the door, took her roommate with her," Diaz explained further.

"Roommate?" Jacob asked.

"Mattilda Douglas, 20 years old, attends the same college as Donna," Diaz clarified, "And it gets stranger…"

"How?" Jacob inquired.

"There was moisture all over the apartment the moment we got in," Diaz said, shocking Jacob.

"Moisture?" The Franklin sibling echoed, hoping this case fact would mean what he think it means.

"Yeah, why?" Detective Diaz nodded with a raised brow.

"Toby," Jacob replied, "The scene of my brother's kidnapping, the whole shelter was covered in moisture."

"You think these two cases are connected," Detective Diaz understood the message, "That mean we found a part of his pattern."

"That's what's gonna help me find my brother and Miss Winters," Jacob then began to march back to the car, but was stopped by his partner.

"Maybe you should sit this one out, Jacob…" Shauna suggested, but Jacob pushed her aside with his arm.

"Not happening," He seethed, "Contact SCPD; tell them we got a lead on my brother's kidnapper."

* * *

 _Six months…_ that's how long Tobias has been missing. But he's not only one who's been reported missing. Over the past few months, people from all over Skyline City have disappeared without a trace. The press named the kidnappers "The Steam Gang," for all the moisture from the steam they use as cover. And it's not _just_ civilians either; policemen, medics, construction workers and scientists have also disappeared. To where, though, no one can guess, but the SCPD has doubled patrols and added checkpoints to keep an eye on every civilian at every possible corner. So far, this method has been effective enough to decrease the rate of disappearances. To the police, however, this changed the behavior of the kidnappers, making them change tactics because the country's government is getting close to them. These new tactics allowed them to hide in the shadows, amongst the populous, so not even the government can find them. This was worrisome, especially to the families of the kidnapped.

Jacob had just drove into his neighborhood from his shift in the police department. He was sent home after having no luck with finding the missing people. Normally, he'd just wing it and rely on luck to find any possible clue to the kidnappers, but today was different. Today it was his brother, Tobias', birthday, and he was determined to get him back, even if it meant getting himself shot at.

As he parked his car in front of the Franklin residence he looked at a picture of him and Tobias in each other's arms, the day Jacob graduated from the police academy.

"Happy birthday, Toby," Jacob said to himself, withholding the urge to cry, "Hang in there, I'm coming for ya."

Jacob then exited the car and went up to the house. When Jacob entered the house, he exclaimed, "I'm back!" before taking off his police jacket and cap, and hanging them on the rack. He then enter the main hub of the house and found his sisters and mother staring at him with looks of hope in their eyes.

"Any luck finding out more about the disappearances?" Clarissa asked as her brother sat down with a sigh.

"Not even one ransom call, according to the families of the others," The eldest sibling said in shame, making his siblings and mother sigh in sadness, "Whoever's behind this, they're smart and know how to avoid the cops really well."

"Great, not only do we have no clue where Toby is, but now we have to worry about going around every corner in this city," Katherine shuddered at the thought of the kidnappers snatching her at night. A ringtone then went off in the Jacobs pocket before taking it out out noticing the familiar number.

"Ah, hold up, gotta take this," He answered the phone and held it up to his ear, "Officer Franklin here."

Jacob then heard the familiar voice on the line.

"Sir?" Jacob replied to a fellow officer's voice, "What's the matter?"

The officer then told him something that shocked him severely.

"What?!" His exclamation alarmed his family a bit, making them curious.

"Sir… you've got to be kidding me," Jacob exclaimed in distress, outraged by what his fellow cop was saying, "Are they serious? Can they really just…"

This unknown chatter was making his family worried. It was bad enough that Tobias was kidnapped, but now it sounded like something worse has happened.

"Oh, alright, Sir," Jacob groaned as he hung up his phone, and noticed the concerned looks on his family's faces, telling him that they needed know what happened, "That was Captain Santiago, apparently he wants us all SCPD personnel to drop the case."

"What?!" The family exclaimed.

"Why would they do that?!" Clarissa said in utter rage, "My baby brother's out there!"

"He said the Guardians came into the station and told us to drop the case," Jacob explained hesitantly.

"The Guardians? But I thought they only deal with big threats to each division, like terrorists and radicalists," Katherine said in disbelief, knowing she was right about the Guardians.

"Yeah, but apparently, they see the kidnappers of so many people in this city as a real threat, so they decided to take over the case," Jacob explained further into detail, not wanting to tell them the truth.

"So what's the problem?" Maria asked in confusion

"The ED's Secretary of Defense; due to how many people were taken…" Jacob hesitated to finish his sentence, "…He was given the order to put the city under martial law."

* * *

It was about a week since Skyline City was put under martial law. Since then, over three hundred Guardians, the robot protectors of each Division, marched into the Capital and made daily patrols to hunt down the kidnappers. This infuriated the cops, but they knew the Guardians were beyond their reach. However, that did not stop a certain cop from searching for the missing people.

Jacob was searching around the city on his own, 'private' investigation, to see if he could find any clue on his brother's whereabouts. If any of his superiors knew about this, he would most likely be suspended from the force and kept away from this case. But he was willing to take that risk, and he wasn't the only one.

Angus, Daniel, Lana and Cyrus were also conducting their own investigation for Tobias. If any of their families knew, they'd all have a cow. But Tobias was someone who has been there for them each and every day, no matter what the situation. The group of friends feel like they owe a great debt to find their friend. And nothing's going to stop them until Tobias is brought home safe and sound.

On a rainy day, Cyrus was exploring the business district for any sign of Tobias. He was wearing a black raincoat to protect him from the heavy drops of rain hitting him. He searched through every abandoned building in the district, but found nothing. After about forty minutes of searching, Cyrus pulled out a walkie talkie from his coat pocket.

"Breaker, breaker, this is Beat Boy," He spoke into the walkie talkie, "Nothing so far here in business district. What about you guys?"

 _"Prank-Star, here, Beat Boy,"_ Daniel spoke from the opposite end of the line, _"I checked all of Downtown, found nothing."_

 _"Ditto with Dragon Fighter in the park,"_ Angus added in disappointment, _"And that's one of his places to be."_

 _"Cheetah Girl has zilch for now,"_ Lana spoke, _"I'm gonna continue looking in the sewers for little while, then I'll come back up to the surface."_

"Copy that, Cheetah Girl, I'll do the same with the abandoned buildings here," Cyrus agreed with her idea, "Over and out."

Cyrus then put away the walkie talkie before heading down an alleyway. He walked down the alley towards an alleyway intersection before seeing two familiar faces out of the corner of his eye.

Heading towards him carrying groceries was Russell Collins and his daughter Amira. Russell Collins was an old friend of Tobias' father and the owner of their neighborhood's local coffee shop. He was an forty-year old man with black hair, tan skin, and blue eyes, wearing a brown jacket over a blue shirt and matching pants, with an umbrella in his right hand and groceries in his left. His daughter Amira was about 18 years old and a sister figure to Tobias and his friends. Her attire was a pink shirt with a white jacket and pants, with her black hair in a ponytail and a golden bracelet on her left wrist. Her eyes were blue like her father and her skin was peach.

"Hey!" Cyrus called out to them as he ran to the duo, "Amira! Mister Collins!"

The father and daughter noticed Cyrus stop in front of them as Russell said, "Cyrus, good to see you again."

"Feeling's mutual," Cyrus said bluntly before asking, "Have either of you seen Tobes around here?"

"Uh, no," Amira and her father frowned, ashamed that they couldn't give their friend anything good, "We still haven't heard from him since the incident."

"Well ain't that just grand," Cyrus sarcastically spoke in anger, "I don't who these guys think they are, but when I find them, their ears will be bleeding!"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Calm down," Russell said, surprised at the boy's reaction, "I'm upset, too, but we can't let our anger take control of us."

"I know, but it's just so frustrating!" Cyrus argued with him, "I mean, I just can't-"

Cyrus was interrupted by the sudden sounds of splashing water and something grinding against the concrete ground. The sound came from the direction Mister Russell and Amira came from. The father and daughter turned around wile Cyrus stuck his head out around them, only to see nothing.

"What was that?" Amira asked as she nervously hid behind her father before the same sounds occurred again.

"It must be coming from over there," Cyrus pointed to a turn in the alleyway between two separate buildings, "Let's check it out."

"Wait," Russell stopped the teenage boy before he could walk to the turn, "What if it's the kidnappers?"

"It's just a quick peak, then we'll leave," Cyrus countered as he approached the turn, eventually followed by the Collins'. The three slowly peeked their heads out to stare into the alley, and found it was a dead end, with trash cans blocking someone one the ground from their view. They knew it was a person because they could see legs of someone sticking beyond the trash cans.

Cyrus motioned them to follow him into the alley as he entered, and they did. As they all got closer, the rocker teen then noticed the shoes on the person's feet: the left one was red while the right was blue.

'Shoes that don't match in color?' Cyrus thought before the three of them noticed the person who was sitting on the ground, and the view shocked them…

… it was Tobias Franklin, unconscious.

"Toby?" Amira gasped as the other two had the jaws wide opened. Cyrus then lower himself down Tobias' level and grabbed his shoulders to shake.

"Tobes, wake up!" Cyrus shook him for a few seconds, and it paid off, because he heard Tobias groan before opening his eyes, but barely.

"Err… ugh, C-Cyrus…" He groaned as he felt a pain coursing through his head.

"Yeah, it's me, man," Cyrus smiled, knowing was alright. But then Tobias closed his eyes, concerning his friend. "Tobester?"

Russell then crouched down and placed his fingers on Tobias' neck and said, "He's got a pulse, but we better call 911."

"I'm on it, Dad," Amira then grabbed her phone to dial the emergency response number, "Hello, I'm in the alleyway at..."

As Amira called for an ambulance, Cyrus told Mister Collins, "I'll tell the guys the Tobester's alive!"

"Good idea, and I'll contact his parents," Russell put his grocery bag down to call Tobias' family as Cyrus called the guys from his walkie talkie.

"Guys, this is Beat Boy!" He yelled into the speaker, "I got good news!"

 _"Did you find anything about where Tobias is?"_ Lana asked in hope.

"Even better; I found him!" Cyrus exclaimed in enthusiasm, shocking the others on their lines.

 _"WHAT?!"_ They all shouted in shock, _"WHERE?!"_

"In an alleyway," Cyrus explained, "Mr. Collins is calling his folks now and Amira's just called 911. Meet us at the local hospital!"

 _"Ten-four!"_ They all exclaimed as signed off the line.

"Hello, Misses Franklin?" Russell spoke into his phone.

 _"Rusty?"_ Maria Franklin said in confusion as she heard the tone of his voice, _"What's wrong?"_

"It's your son, we found Toby!" He exclaimed, shocking the Franklin matriarch.

 _"WHAT!?"_ Maria yelled in both panic and joy, _"WHERE!?"_

"Alleyway; no time to explain, we'll see you at the hospital!" Mister Collins said, concerned for the child of his old friend.

 _"Alright!"_ She said before hanging up before Tobias groaned once more.

"C… Ca-" He struggled to speak.

"Hey, no more talking man," Cyrus said to his friend, "Ambulances are already one their way here."

"Ca-Case…" Tobias lifted his arm up and pointed at the trash right next to him. Cyrus was confused until he moved the trash and saw a metal case titled _"Property of Maxwell Franklin."_

'Mister Franklin?' He echoed in his mind before noticing Tobias passing out again, 'I hope the EMTs get here soon.'

Cyrus and the Collins' decided to stay with Tobias until help arrived, not wanting anything more to happen to him.

* * *

When Tobias opened his eyes, he wished he really hadn't. He found himself lying down in some sort of prison, litten only by a yellow light. He also found himself coughing and gasping for air, but it was muffled by a mask injecting some sort of gas into his lungs. Tobias tried to get up, but felt that he was restrained down. He looked down and saw his wrist were both chained to something in water. Tobias then started to panic as he saw many people holding him down, wearing hazard suits.

Tobias wanted to cry out for help, but knew he couldn't due to the fact he was coughing on the strange gas he was inhaling. He then heard more voices nearby and turned his head to the right noticing many people who looked like they have been tortured restrained to beds. These people grunted and yelled for help, indicating more danger from Tobias. What was more troubling was the evil laugh he heard from the opposite end of the room. Tobias turned his head back around and noticed a man in black steampunk armor sitting in a fancy chair. The gas around him was so thick, he could barely could describe him. Luckily, he managed to notice the red, yellow and green wires on his armor, a horn-like object on his forehead, a yellow bat symbol on the center of his chest, and a matching bat-like visor where his eyes should be.

Tobias noticed this dark figure laughing under his helmet, and wanted out of there immediately. He struggled to break free and scream for help even more, hoping someone would hear him. Alas, it seemed to be in vain as the room turned all white, then pitch black.

* * *

 _"HELP ME!"_

Tobias awoken with a scream of fear that could be heard all around. He panted and panted as it seemed like the event never happened. Once he saw the different environment, he began to calm down with slower, controlled breaths.

'It was just a dream,' He thought, 'But it felt so real.'

"TOBY!" Tobias heard the voices of familiar people and noticed his friends and family were all standing around the room. Tobias could see that they all have been crying, as if he had been gone for a long time and they were worried.

"Guys?" He inquired, confused by their looks, "What's the matter with you all?"

"You mean you don't know?!" Angus asked as he tightly hugged his friends right arm, confusing him even more.

"Uh… no," Tobias answered, surprised at his best friend's emotions and action, "But where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, Toby," Katherine replied to her little brother, "The doctors said you suffered a serious head injury."

"If that's it, then why so worried?" Tobias asked, "I can't miss school for more than a few days, remember?"

Once he said that, the young Franklin boy noticed the strange looks his friends and family were all giving him.

"What?" He asked in more confusion.

"Um… er, Sweetie, do you realize how long you've been gone?" His mother asked him, boggling his mind even further.

"A few days, right?" Tobias answered, hoping to find out what his mother was talking about.

"Toby, you've been gone for six months," Clarissa clarified, making Tobias' eyes bulge out to the size of dinner plates.

"Say what?!" He exclaimed in shock.

"You were kidnapped, little bro," Jacob explained, "Right after you were assaulted after Jay and his goons."

"Jay and his goons…?" Tobias paused before remembering that fateful day with Jay assaulting halfway to death before someone taking him somewhere, "S-O-B! I remember! What happened to Jay?"

"He's alive, _unfortunately,"_ Lana said rather bluntly, showing her hatred to Jay, _"Fortunately,_ he and his friends were all expelled and arrested for assaulting you."

"Well, that's good to hear," Tobias sighed in relief, knowing he will never hear from his bully again. He then spoke again, "So, I've been gone for six months straight?"

"Yeah, dude, it's like you totally vanished," Cyrus said.

"And it wasn't just you." Daniel added.

"It wasn't?" Tobias quirked a brow in confusion and concern.

"The people who took you took a lot of other lives with them," Jacob explained, freaking his brother out a bit.

"Yikes," Tobias said before remembering his nightmare from before he woke up, "I think I know who one of them is?"

"Really, who?" Jacob said before got out a notepad and pen to start writing down details.

"Well, actually it's more like what he looks like. May I?" Tobias stuck his hand out for the notepad and pen. Tobias then started to draw the figure from his nightmare, figuring this man was the one who kidnapped him.

"This is the guy, I think," He showed his drawing of the bat-figure, which ran chills up their spines.

"Whoa, freaky," Angus commented, "But how'd you know what he looked like?"

"I had a nightmare before I woke up," Tobias explained. "He was sitting in a fancy chair. I… I think it was a memory…"

"In that case," Jacob took his pen and pad back to write down the details for real, "What else was in the dream?"

"Uh, it was a dark room with piping and lit only by a few lamps in the ceiling, and there were other people there," Tobias explained hesitantly about the details of his memory, "Most of them were wearing hazmat suits and gas masks so I couldn't see their faces. Other people were also in the room, but they were all chained to different beds, all of them in pain. Some of them were teenagers, but most of them were adults."

Everyone in the shuddered at how much detail he could remember. Seeing all those people suffer, it mustn't have been easy for him.

"Then there was some kind of container they had me in," Tobias continued, "I was restrained by chains, dressed only in rags, soaking in water. They had me hooked up to some kind of machine that pumped some kind of gas into my lungs, making it nearly impossible for me to breathe, let alone gasp for air."

"Oh, my goodness!" Katherine held her hand over mouth, horrified by those details.

"Okay, little bro, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable here, but do you remember anything else?" Jacob asked before making suggestions, "Like, their voices, faces, anything we can use identify these guys?"

"Ugh…" Tobias groaned as he tried to remember anything else about the perpetrators, but he couldn't.

"Sorry, but the only other thing I can remember after that is somehow escaping and winding up in an alley in the rain," Tobias explained as best he could, ashamed he couldn't do more to help.

"Ah, it's okay, little bro," Jacob said he began to leave the room, "I'm gonna let my superiors get note of this. You just get your strength back."

As Jacob left the room, Tobias saw two other people enter: Russell and Amira Collins.

"Hey there, Kiddo," Russell said as he and his daughter approached Tobias with a smile.

"Mister Collins, Amira," Tobias said, thrilled to see some old friends, "It's good to see you both again."

"You too, after a long time of you being held in captivity," Amira replied.

"Alright, alright, everyone out," Everyone in the room heard a voice and saw a doctor at the entrance of the room, "My patient may now be awake, but he's got a long way to before he can be checked out. Until he's fully recovered, Mister Franklin will be under mandatory rehab for any psychological behavior, such as memory recovery or panic attacks."

"What?" Angus quirked a brow, "For how long?"

"At best, three weeks," The doctor replied, "After that he'll be discharged, and will be able to return to school."

"With a lot of make-up assignments to do," Tobias groaned, realizing he just missed a lot of school.

"Don't worry, Sweetie," Tobias' mother kissed his for forehead. "We'll be waiting for you. Just take it slow."

"Yeah, my man," Cyrus said as everyone began to leave the room.

"And if that rehab doesn't work out, we'll help you out, just like _you_ always help _us_ out," Angus gave his best friend a thumbs-up, which to Tobias gladly returned.

"Gotcha, Angus," Tobias smiled before everyone he knew left the room. Now Tobias was left in the hospital with a lot of rehabilitation to go through.

* * *

Somewhere within the mountains of Skyline City, lied an ancient door, what was behind this door, no one knows. But with an earthquake, the door glowed red, in the shape of an old man's face. Soon, the lives of everyone in the three divisions will change forever.


	3. Chapter 3

_**One Best Match is More Than Meets the Eye Part 3**_

 _ **Rise of The Genius Rider!**_

A few weeks have passed since Tobias was put into the hospital for rehab, and the Franklins were all in the family car driving to said hospital to pick him up. They were all excited to see their son back from, wherever it is he came from when he was held captive. Each member of the Franklin family was terrified in their own way by the possibility that Tobias could have been killed by his kidnappers.

Jacob spent more time at target practice to, shooting down every target here and there with every form of gun there is at the police station. He was hoping to improve his shooting skills so that when he came face-to-face with his brother's kidnappers, they would wind up full of bullets.

Katherine was trying to look through her brother's stuff, to see if he got wrapped up in anything dangerous. She found nothing, but she got the feeling that her brother kept that information to himself somewhere. She also visited their father's grave every week, praying to come down and find Tobias himself. She's not one for supernatural myths, but at the time, she needed something to tell her that her brother was alright.

Clarissa was spending time at the animal shelter, doing her brother's volunteer work. She always enjoyed being around any furry friend of Tobias, but did not enjoy cleaning the cages. Either way, it was her way of showing that she missed her brother dearly.

As for Max, he was scared that Tobias wasn't home for months. His big brother would always tuck him in at night, especially on rainy nights when the lightning struck. He barely could leave his room without Tobias around.

The mother of the five children was trying to keep herself busy for the six months of Tobias' captivity. She employed herself into a second job as an employee for a coffee shop, just to take her mind off the kidnappings. Although, as the months progressed, the mother was getting more and more shaken with each abduction. She had already lost her husband, she did not want to lose her son.

Each and every one of the Franklins were terrified by abductions, but once they heard that Tobias was back, they immediately ran for the cars and sped off to the hospital to see their once-missing brother. But before Tobias could return home with them, he had mandatory rehab to finish off, to see if any of the kidnappers he described left any scars, physical, mental and emotional. Despite the rehab, the family were thrilled to pick him up.

Maria Franklin parked the car in the hospital parking lot and spoke, "We're here."

"Nice!" Clarissa exclaimed in pure joy as she unfastened her seatbelt, "It'll be great to have him around the house again."

"I don't think I'll ever let him leave the house after what happened," Katherine proclaimed.

"Me neither, Kat," Jacob nodded in agreement.

"But what about playing outside?" Max asked in confusion, "If he's not allowed out of the house, how will he play in the backyard?"

The others smiled sheepishly with a sweatdrop, knowing their little brother didn't know what they really meant.

"We'll talk about the new rules when we get home, kids," Maria said as they all got out of the car and walked towards the hospital. The family then entered the building and spoke to man at the front desk, "Hello, uh, we're here to pick up our son, Tobias. He should be in mandatory rehab."

"Tobias? Tobias? Tobias…" The man searched through the list on the computer for the schedule and saw the kid's name, "Ah, Tobias Franklin, of course. A smart kid he is. Your kid should be with Doctor Richardson in the last room down that hallway."

The man pointed to the door at the far end of the hospital hallway. The Franklin's noticed the door and said, "Thank you!"

The family then walked down the hallway. It was a long hallway, so they had enough time for a small conversation. Realizing what the man just said, Jacob asked, "What do you think he meant when he called Toby a smart kid?"

"Tobias is smart, Jacob," Katherine reminded him, "Maybe they tested him on a few math problems."

"Hmm, good point," Jacob nodded before they eventually made it to the door. The mother then knocked on the door, hoping for an answer. The door then opened, revealing the doctor Tobias was assigned to.

"As, Misses Franklin," Doctor Richardson said with a smile, "It's good to see you all here."

"Agreed, Doctor," Maria said before wanting to know more about her son, "How's Tobias doing?"

"He's actually doing very well," The doctor replied, "We gave him a few exercises and tests for him to solve, both physical and logical. Aside from a few bruises and minor trauma, he passed every test; he's ready to head home."

"That's a relief," Clarissa sighed, "Now everything will be back to normal."

"Well, I wouldn't say 'normal,'" The doctor muttered, but the family heard him.

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked in confusion.

"Well, um… what kind of classes is Tobias taking in school?" Doctor Richardson asked, "Specifically, anything related to science."

"Uh… he's, err, taking Intro to Physics, Intro to Chem, Biology and Engineering," Clarissa answered, but was just as confused as everyone else.

"And what grades does he have in those classes?" The doctor added.

"Uh, up to C's and D's in the first three, and an A in engineering," Maria replied before wanting answers, "But what does this have to do with anything?"

"Uh, I think it's best you see for yourself," Doctor Richardson said before opening the door, letting in the family. When they entered, they saw a lot of problematic equations scribbled from top to the middle of a whiteboard. At the far end of the board, the Franklin's noticed a boy writing down even more equations, and once they got closer, the family was shocked to see it was Tobias writing it all down.

"Reverse the spin on the antiproton…" They heard the boy saying scientific facts, "The sigma particle is then equal to half the amount of energy in the gamma particle… the negative force of the xenon atoms become tripled and the hydrogen molecules then-"

"Ahem," Tobias heard Doctor Richardson clear his throat before noticing him with his entire family standing near him, "Mr. Franklin? Your family's here to pick you up."

"Oh," Tobias then dropped what he was doing and smiled at the sight of his family, "Hey, guys, what's up?"

"We could ask you the same question," Jacob said, motioning his head at the equation's his brother wrote.

"Oh, that?" Tobias said before sighing, "I know, it's weird. I don't know how this happened."

"You don't know how you just wrote down equations only a scientist can write down?" Katherine quirked a brow.

"Yeah, it's like I just gained this intelligence overnight while I was asleep, but that would be impossible given that a human being can't access so much knowledge at a time or it would cause severe cephalgia," Tobias explained before noticing the confused expressions his family was giving him, "And you guys don't understand what in the world I'm saying."

"Cephalgia is the scientific name for 'headache,'" Doctor Richardson explained.

"Oh!" The family said.

"Anyway, are you ready to head home, son?" Maria asked her son.

"Ready as I'll ever be, Mom," Tobias said with a smile in delight before they all walked out the room door.

"One more thing before you all leave," Doctor Richardson politely stopped the Franklins, "Misses Franklin, if you don't mind, I would like you to send reports to me on Tobias' condition, see if there's any change in his intelligence."

"Oh, uh… it's no problem at all," Maria said suspiciously with a quirked brow.

"Thank you," The doctor said before the family exited the building, entered the car and drove off. The family was then driving back into their neighborhood, with Tobias releasing a large sigh of relief.

"Home, sweet home," He smiled.

"How's it feel being out of that hospital?" Jacob asked with a smirk.

"Like I've been in a prison cell my whole life," Tobias said before noticing the Guardian robots patrolling the streets, "I still can't believe the city was put under martial law for all the kidnappings."

"Freaky, right?" Clarissa asked before they parked in their driveway, "Since they showed up, everyone's been given a curfew to avoid more kidnappings."

The family then exited the car and entered the house. Tobias decided to go to his room and saw that nothing was moved, but everything was clean with very little dust.

"You guys kept my room the way it was?" Tobias said in disbelief.

"We could never bring ourselves to change it," Katherine clarified and received a smile from her younger brother. It was true; back when Tobias was still missing, they couldn't bring themselves to move everything out of his room. They all refused to believe their brother was gone, so they decided not to move anything for entirety of his disappearance. However, they had to keep it clean in case he returned back then - the room might have been vacant, but they couldn't let it gather dust.

"Thanks guys," Tobias smiled in joy before walking over to a shelf drawer and pulled out something of importance to him: his father's old watch. The watch was one of the few things recovered from the Skywall Incident that belonged to his father. It was an old, brown leather watch with mathematical equations that had equaled the numbered hours of a clock. The glass was cracked a bit, but Tobias didn't care. His mother said that the watch was one of the few things that meant to the world to his father, so now it means the world to Tobias.

"Hey, Dad," Tobias said as he put the watch around his right wrist, not wanting to separate from it again, "I'm home."

"Toby, dear!" His mother called out to him, "Angus is waiting outside for you!"

"Coming, Mom!" Tobias then rushed all the way to the front door, excited to see his best friend. He opened the door and saw Angus waiting out there, hands in his pockets.

"Angus!" Tobias gave him a wide smile of joy.

"Tobes!" The two friends chest bumped each other before wrapping each other in an embrace, "Ha ha! It's been too long man!"

"Same here, Angus!" Tobias replied with a smile before they broke the hug, "So how's everything going?"

"Going great, man," Angus replied before noticing another Guardian patrol and frowned, "Although, I still feel a bit edgy about these walking tin cans patrolling the city."

"Yeah, I guess that makes two of us," Tobias agreed, feeling just as edgy before changing the subject, "So what's up?"

"Oh, the guys and I were hoping if we all could catch up with you at Mister Collins' coffee shop," Angus suggested, showing him a dark blue, four-door 2013 Chevrolet Camaro with orange flames going from front to back, and spewing out the flames were light blue, Japanese-style dragons on both sides of the car. The vehicle was filled with their friends waving at Tobias.

"Sounds like a plan," Tobias smiled before facing his mother, "Can I, Mom?"

"You may, but on a few conditions," His mother began to explain new rules about leaving the house, "One, never go out of the house alone, always be with someone you can trust like your family or friends. Two, always stay in the sight of the Guardians - not even kidnappers would think about kidnapping someone in their line of sight. And three, if you ever find yourself alone, call either me, your brother or your friends, and we'll come pick you up. And stay hidden until we get there. I already lost your father, I'm not losing anyone else."

"Understood, Mom," Tobias nodded in understanding before walking inside of Angus the car and heading straight to the coffee shop.

"And be home by dinner, sweetie!" Maria exclaimed before the car was out of sight.

"Ah, it's good to see him active again," Jacob said with a smile.

"Yes, it is," Maria said before closing the door and facing her daughters and youngest son, "And girls, these rules go for you and Max, too. I mean it - never go out alone, stay in the Guardians' sight and always call for help if you are out alone."

"Yes, Mom," The girls replied before the went to their rooms.

* * *

 _ **THE SAME DAY; NEARBY IN THE SKYLINE MOUNTAINS**_

* * *

Deep inside the mountains beyond the forest behind Tobias' neighborhood, an ancient cave laid. Within this cave, ancient robots reside, broken and battered, as if a battle took place. It appeared to be nothing was functional, but looks _can_ be deceiving.

A small tremor shook the cave and reactivated a nearby computer terminal of unearthly technology. The terminal screen lit up like a Christmas tree as it rebooted itself and lit up the room.

 _ **"** ** _TEL_ ETRAAN I-ONLINE," **_ The computer said in an emotionless, robotic voice as it seemed to read through its system in an unknown language, _**"** ** _R_ UNNING DIAGNOSTICS… UNABLE TO LEAVE ORBIT OF UNKNOWN PLANET! DAMAGE ANALYSIS: CRITICAL! SCANNING FOR ENERGON SIGNATURES!"**_

The computer then made the top of the cave light up before it lowered itself down, hitting the robots. Once the light projection touched them, the computer started going through their systems, running different diagnostics and procedures. It then made a small buzzing sound like a minor alarm as it read the data.

 _ **"** ** _CY_ BERTRONIANS DETECTED! ENERGON RESERVES NEARLY DEPLETED, WITH ONLY LESS THAN 1 SOLAR CYCLE," **_ The computer said before activating a new program and operation, _**"** **ONLY CHANCE FOR SURVIVAL IS TO SCAN VEHICLES OF THE NEW PLANET!"**_

The computer made a secret hatch in the wall open up, revealing a small probe of alien tech. The probe hovered above the ground before stopping below a hatch in the ceiling that opened up.

 _ **"** ** _TEL_ ETRAAN I PROBE, READY FOR EXPLORATION," **_ The computer said, ready to launch the probe, _**" _ES_ TIMATED TIME FOR TRAVERSING ENTIRE PLANET… 46.812 SOLAR CYCLES! CALCULATING QUICKEST ACCESS TO THE PLANET'S DOMESTIC VEHICLES AND TECHNOLOGY!"**_

After a few minutes of math, the terminal managed to find the quickest way to save the robots. It showed an image of Earth's satellites high above the atmosphere.

 _ **"** **ORBITAL SATELLITES CONTAIN LINKED INFORMATION ON ALL PLANETARY INFORMATION,"**_ It said before plotting a course for the probe to investigate, _**"** ** _SE_ TTING COORDINATES; TELETRAAN PROBE, PROCEED TO ORBITAL DESTINATION!**_

The probe then exited through the hatch and out of the mountain, with none of the locals noticing it fly off into orbit.

* * *

 _ **THE SAME DAY; NASCITA COFFEE SHOP AND RESTAURANT**_

* * *

Back in Skyline City, Tobias, Angus, Lana, Cyrus and Daniel were now parked in front of Russell Collins' coffee shop named 'Nascita' and prepared themselves to go inside. The restaurant was on the bottom floor of what used to be an apartment building. Tobias helped Russell Collins and his daughter move into the building five years after the Sky Wall Disaster, turning the first floor into a coffee shop and restaurant, and the floors above it into a more house-like appearance. As a debt of gratitude, Mister Collins sends some of the money he makes to the Franklins whenever they were having trouble with their bills and taxes. Since then, the restaurant became very successful, thanks to the help with the Franklin family, and the food there was delicious. The coffee on the other hand, people are not fans of.

The group of friends then exited the car and entered the shop, noticing Mister Collins and his daughter behind the counter, with Amira laying her head on the counter, asleep.

"Hey there, kids," Mister Collins smiled as the group of friends sat down at large table made up of smaller ones.

"Hey, Mister Collins," Tobias greeted him.

"Toby, it's good to see you again, and out of the hospital," Russell said with a smirk, "And I told you, call me 'Uncle Russell.'"

"Right, sorry, Uncle Russell," Tobias said with a sheepish smile, "I want to thank you guys for finding me. If it weren't for you guys, I… I don't even want to think about what could happen."

"Hey, it was no biggie," Lana reassured him him, "You're safe now and that's what matters."

"Plus, we're not letting you go off alone anymore," Cyrus added.

"Yeah, I figured you'd say that," Tobias chuckled a bit before facing his best friend, "So how are things going with you, Angus?"

"Oh, uh... things are… things are fine," Angus stuttered with a fake smile, but Tobias just got curious.

"Okay, how's Mister Drake doing?" He asked, receiving a lot of bad looks from everyone in the room, but Angus' look became a bit more angry than the others, "What?"

"Toby… Angus' dad got arrested," Daniel explained.

 _"WHAT?!"_ Tobias yelled in shock, "What for?!"

"For murder, at least that's what they said," Angus seethed, fingers scratching the bottom side of the table, "They didn't even expand their search, they just assumed it was him because he was in the same room as the victim."

"Murder?" Tobias echoed in disbelief, receiving a nod from the others, "But that's ridiculous, your dad's no murderer!"

"That's what _we_ tried to tell them in court," Russell said as he served the boys some water, lemonade and orange juice, "The judge says without any further evidence, the punishment is prison for life."

"Oh, great!" Tobias grumbled as he took one large, aggressively long sip of his water until it was gone, "I'm sorry, Angus."

"Ah, it's fine, you didn't know," Angus replied with a smile, but Tobias knew it was fake, "Anyway, I think it's time we talk about how you've been doing in therapy."

"Uh, it was okay, but…" Tobias hesitated, "Somehow, I'm smarter."

"What? You mean like you're gonna listen to your mom from now on, bro?" Cyrus asked.

"No… well, yeah, I am," Tobias explained vividly, "But I meant I somehow became more smarter than before."

"What makes you say that?" Angus asked with a raised brow along with the others.

"For the entire time at therapy, I was able to write down intelligent, mathematical and scientific equations and their answers," Tobias then saw looks of disbelief from everyone else, "I'm serious!"

"Sure you are," Lana said in playful sarcasm, "If that's true, write one down."

"Okay, I will," Tobias accepted the challenge as Russell Collins handed him a small whiteboard and marker. Tobias handed his phone over to Cyrus, so they won't see him cheat, before proving them wrong and him right. Tobias managed to write down a large equation that would have been impossible for the average teen to solve. The others stared in utter shock.

"WHOA!" They shouted in shock and awe.

"That's insane, dude," Cyrus exclaimed.

"How'd you do that, man?" Lana asked.

"I don't know, Lana," Tobias replied, "I just did these equations in the hospital."

"Tobes, you could be the smartest kid in class when you get back," Angus gave his best friend a compliment.

"Heh, thanks, Angus," Tobias smiled sheepishly.

"You now seem as smart as your father, Toby," Russell said with a smile, and Tobias rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh!" Cyrus gasped, remembering something important, "I just remembered!"

"What, Cyrus?" Tobias and the others quirked their brows.

"Mister Collins, do you still have that case?" Cyrus asked in hope, further confusing everyone.

"Oh, right," Russell said with a nod before heading over to a mini fridge and opening it, revealing a lot of food. He didn't stop there, though, as he pushed the shelves of food back, revealing a secret staircase.

"When did you guys get a secret escape hatch?" Tobias asked in disbelief.

"When we bought the place, it was already there, so we decided to use it for extra storage," Russell explained bluntly, "Now come on, I've got something to show you."

Tobias was confused, but he didn't mind as he and his friends followed the owner down the stairs revealing a rather empty room, save for a large chalkboard.

"Whoa," Lana whistled, impressed by the sight.

"I know right," Russell replied with a smirk, "There's enough room in here to make it a small secret base."

After letting the kids have a few minutes to stare at the room in awe, Russell went over to a table and picked up the metal case he and Cyrus found. He held it out to Tobias as he said, "We found this right next to you when we found you in that alley."

"You did?" Tobias asked before taking the case and seeing his father's name on it, "This belonged to my dad."

"Exactly," Russell said, "We were originally gonna hand it to the police, but we wanted to try and crack the code first."

Tobias got a better look at the case and saw they were right. The lock on the case was a digital keypad with no keyhole.

"It's a five digit combination, but we wanted to see if you knew the code before handing over to the Guardians," Cyrus explained before seeing Tobias focused on the case. Tobias then punched the numbers in.

"Three, five, one, zero, zero," Tobias said as he entered the code with unknown ease. The case the dinged and automatically unlocked itself. The others were shocked to see Tobias open it with ease.

"How'd you know that was the code?" Angus asked in confusion.

"They're the first five digits in my dad's dog tags when he was in the military," Tobias explained.

"Ah! I can't believe I didn't try that!" Russell groaned before Tobias set the case down on a table. The friends watched him open it and it revealed something strange.

Inside the case was a strange black device with two slots. It had two slots on the right with red and black caution lines below it, a large gear connected to a gear with a yellow marker and another gear with a red marker, and a crank to turn the gears. There was piping covering it from below the slots, to below the small gears, to behind the larger gear. Below the large gear was a white logo shaped like a gear with a lightning bolt going through it. The device wasn't the only strange thing in the case - the group of friends also found two bottle-like containers, each filled with an unknown liquid material. The containers were red and blue and molded to look like a rabbit and a tank.

"What the hell?" Angus said in confusion as Tobias grabbed the device from the case. Angus then grabbed the red rabbit bottle and Daniel grabbed hold of the blue tank bottle.

"I wonder what this is…" Tobias scratched his head in confusion.

"And what's with these bottles?" Daniel asked, "Why are they shaped after a rabbit and a tank."

"I don't know, dudes," Cyrus said before noticing one last thing in the case. He reached into it and grabbed a red and blue flash drive.

"But maybe this can tell us," Cyrus suggested.

"Maybe, Cyrus," Tobias agreed as he took the flash drive from his friend, "Maybe…"

"Well, if this is your dad's case, do you think he might be alive," Lana asked, hoping for some context in this scenario.

"I don't know," Tobias answered, "But I sure as hell hope so."

* * *

A couple of hours later after hanging out around the city after Nascita, Tobias and his friends then went back to his house to grab his laptop. The group needed a computer to find out what's in the drive, but they decided to keep it to themselves, along with the bottles and device, for a while until they know anything else about them. They decided to head to the old treehouse the Tobias' built when he was ten years old for some privacy. It was in the woods beyond the backyard of the house. When they told the Franklins they were going to the treehouse, they stopped them and told them to be careful on the main road to the treehouse. Once they all entered the backyard, Tobias saw wired fence between them and the woods.

"What the hell is this for?" He asked in more confusion.

"Oh, the Guardians figured it wasn't safe to go out into woods because of the kidnappings," Daniel explained, "They also thought any house connected to the woods would be at risk of being a target for the kidnappers, so they put up the fence."

"Oh, that makes sense," Tobias nodded before noticing the gate in front of a dirt path, "And the gate connected to the forest path?"

"Oh, your brother managed to pull some strings and make a fenced-off path to the tree house," Angus explained further.

 _'Note to self, I owe Jacob big time,'_ Tobias thought with and understanding expression before opening the gate and entering the the forest path, followed by his friends. The group managed to make it to the tree house, and it was a little different compared to your standard tree house. This one had two main parts to it-one on top and one on the bottom. The boys entered the bottom part and climbed up a ladder into the top part. The top part had plenty of room for up to eight teenagers, and was covered in different posters of science, martial arts, animals and machines, sports, and movies. There were four desks across the six-sided room, one space being empty aside from a chest to store some valuables belongings with a television connected to it, and a window side with a makeshift periscope so the group can see what's out there. Once everyone got comfortable, Tobias was syncing up his laptop to the television so everyone could get a good look at what the flash drive held.

"Okay, we're all connected and ready to view," He said as he sat on the floor with his friends like they were about to watch a movie, "Ready to see what secrets the flash drive holds?"

"You say that like we're in a movie, Tobes," Angus said bluntly.

"Well, excuse me for being dramatic, Angus," Tobias acted defensively.

"Just open the damned flash drive already," Lana said impatiently, in no mood to listen to their bickering.

Tobias inserted the flash drive into the computer and it showed up on the Tv. He opened the folder and it contained multiple different files.

"What are these things, bro?" Cyrus asked as Tobias opened them all, revealing…

"Blueprints… a lot of them," Tobias replied as he showed them all one by one. One blueprint was of the device they found in the case-it seemed to be wrapped around the waist of someone in diagonally-spiralled armor. Tobias saw it was labelled as _'Build Driver.'_

"That's what that thing is for?" Angus said in confusion, "A lousy belt buckle?"

"I don't think it's lousy, Angus," Tobias said as he opened another file, showing the bottles from before.

"FullBottles?" He read the label.

"What's a 'FullBottle' and what's the hell is a Build Driver?" Lana asked, hoping to get some answers.

"Don't know, but I think we're about to find out," Tobias then opened a file that was actually a typed document explaining the FullBottles, "Okay, it says here that the so-called 'Build Driver' is a device that can manifest the traits and characteristics of organic and inorganic materials from the purified essence of FullBottles and combine them into a bio-boosted armor designed for combat."

"Uh, English, please," Angus asked, not understanding what Tobias was reading.

"Oh, uh… it means it can give the wearer the abilities from two different items, like…" Tobias said, surprising himself and his friends even further. He then remembered the bottles from before and pulled them from his pocket, "Rabbit and Tank. In other words, it allows the wearer to gain abilities from both an animal and a machine."

"Oh, okay, that makes more sense," Angus said in relief.

"Who wrote the file, Tobester," Cyrus asked. Tobias search through the document, but found no traces of an author or editor.

"Ah, the damn thing doesn't say," Tobias said in frustration before some of his hair stood on end. He then heard chuckling from behind him and saw that it was from his friends.

"What?" He asked in confusion.

"Your hair, dude," Cyrus pointed to his head before Lana handed him her phone and showed his hair through the camera.

"What the hell?!" Tobias exclaimed before putting his hair back down.

"That was weird, man," Daniel laughed, "In fact, it was hil-hair-ious!"

"Ugh!" The group groaned in annoyance of the pun.

"Annoying puns aside, we need to find out what this has to do with Dad," Tobias said as the others nodded.

"Agreed, bro, but I think we should head home and sleep on it until morning, it's getting a little late," Cyrus made a point. It was sunset already and it was getting to be dark soon, and they all knew they needed to be home in time because of the new curfew the government made.

"Alright, let's head back to my place," Tobias said as they all packed-up everything, "We'll dig further into this tomorrow. Agreed?"

"Agreed!"

"Good to hear," Tobias said before they made their way back to the house.

Tobias' friends eventually had to leave for their places before Tobias found himself at the dinner table with his family, having honey-soy chicken. Tobias dug into his food like he hasn't eaten in years. His family all smiled as Jacob broke the silence.

"Heh, you seem hungry, Toby," He chuckled before taking a bite of his chicken.

"Trust me, the hospital food isn't so, but it's not so good either," Toby said before finding his mouth full of his mother's cooking. He then swallow the food before grabbing his glass of water and started chugging it down quickly.

"Slow down, Toby," Katherine told him, concerned that he might choke, "You don't want to hurt yourself eating.

Tobias swallowed the last of his water before looking at his family with a smiling sheepish look before saying, "Sorry. I'm just glad to be home with my family again."

"We're glad you are, too, Toby," Clarissa smiled before remembering something, "Oh, I almost forgot!"

"What?" Toby quirked a brow at her as she dug through her pockets and pulled out a Samsung Galaxy S5 - Tobias' phone.

"You kept my phone, too?" Tobias asked as his sister gave him the phone.

"Yeah, your stuff was kinda hard to get rid of," She explained herself.

"Thanks, Clarissa," Tobias said before putting his phone in his pocket.

"So, how was your day, Toby," The mother asked him, making him look at her in surprise, "What did you and your friends in the treehouse?"

"Oh… um… not much, just talked, watched some movies and tv shows I've missed, and played some games in the treehouse," He lied with a smirk, not wanting them to worry more than they have to.

"Oh… alright then," Maria replied, but couldn't help but feel like he was hiding something when she looked at him smirking.

'I can't tell them about what I found yet,' He thought as they all continued eating, 'In fact fact, I should probably tell the others to keep what we found a secret from everyone. If Dad has something to do with my kidnappers, then I think it's best to try and keep the people we care about out of this.'

Tobias finished his dinner plate and wiped his face with a napkin before putting both into the trash, and putting his dishes into the dishwasher. He then faced his mother with a hopeful look.

"Is it alright if I go upstairs and take a shower?" He asked politely, "They don't exactly have… _private_ cleaning areas in the hospital."

"Ew…" Katherine winced in disgust.

"I did not need to hear that, little bro," Jacob said in equal disgust.

"Me neither!" Max shouted in agreement.

"Max, inside voice!" Maria softly scolded, making Max smile sheepishly with a blush on his face.

She then looked back at Tobias and said, "Of course, sweetie. You earned it."

"Thanks, Mom," Tobias smiled before walking upstairs to get cleaned.

"Be sure to come out smelling like a daisy, Little Einstein!" Clarissa called out to him, making him pause a bit.

"'Little Einstein?'" He echoed in surprise before slightly chuckling, "Haven't heard that one for a long time."

Tobias continued walking up the stairs and down the hallway to his room. He went to and opened his dresser to grab some pajamas. Tobias chose a tan-colored pajama shirt and a pair of powder blue shorts before heading towards the door. He paused as he remembered he need to tell his friends to keep the Build Driver and the FullBottles a secret, so he pulled out and turned on his phone, entered messages and typed a group text to his friends.

 _"Guys, I forgot to mention: we should probably keep what we found today a secret,"_ He typed with a zipped-up mouth emoji before sending the message. After a few seconds, Angus responded.

 _"Agreed, Tobes! ;-),"_ He replied.

 _"Okay, but why?"_ Daniel responded with a confused emoji.

 _"I don't think we should let people know anything we know until we have more information,"_ Toby replied with a magnifying glass emoji.

 _"Oh… alrighty then,"_ Daniel said with a disappointed emoji.

 _"I agree with Toby. If someone knew what we were up to, the authorities might get involved and we might never find out the truth about his dad!"_ Lana replied with a thumbs-up emoji and disgusted emoji.

 _"Thanks, Lana! I knew I could count on you! :-),"_ Toby smiled.

 _"My lips are already sealed, dudes! No need to tell me twice! ;-),"_ Cyrus assured his friends.

 _"Good to hear. Now, are we all in agreement?"_ Tobias asked, hoping they would keep this a secret.

 _"Now and forever!"_ They all replied, making Tobias smile.

 _"Good, meet me at the treehouse tomorrow! We need to know more about the device and the bottles,"_ Tobias sent his last message before turning his phone off and heading off to the shower.

* * *

 _ **THE SAME NIGHT; EARTH'S ORBIT**_

* * *

The probe launched from the mountains earlier had already made it into orbit, approaching the satellite. Once it detected the satellite on it's sensors, the thrusters died down a bit before it started shifting parts of it's mechanical body.

 _ **"** ** _A_ PPROACHING SATELLITE; PREPARING TO EXTRACT DATA,"**_ The probe's computer spoke as mechanical tentacles with claws stretched out and needle-like devices extended from the body. The claws carefully grasped the satellite's body before jabbing the needle-like devices into the machine. The probe then shifted and transformed to show a computer screen, revealing a data search.

 _ **" _SEA_ RCHING…"**_ It said as it searched through every data source available before showing vehicles, such as cars, trucks, planes, and others, _**"** **VEHICLE DATA DISCOVERED! BEGINNING EXTRACTION AND TRANSFERENCE!"**_

The probe then began extracting the data on almost every vehicle on Earth. This clearly was going to take a while before completion, but it would be worth it to save the robots in the cave.

* * *

 _ **THE NEXT MORNING; FRANKLIN RESIDENCE**_

* * *

Toby was sleeping like a log in his own. For him, it felt good to be back in a more comfortable bed, not like the ones in the hospital. He also felt better to be sleeping in a more familiar environment, one that he knew could never be dangerous. Tobias mumbled softly in his sleep, possibly about something enjoyed according the smile on his face. That smile was immediately replaced with a frightened frown, as he was dreaming about something intense, like a nightmare.

* * *

 _Tobias then found himself back in the dark room from his past dream. It had to be another memory as the room was exactly the same as he left it. He found himself being held up by the shoulders by two men in hazmat suits, dragging him to the fancy chair from last time. Tobias knew he was being dragged because he saw his feet were lagging behind on the floor, as if he were dosed with some kind of sedative. Him being able to move his head meant that the sedative was beginning to dissipate. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for him to move anything but his head._

 _He looked up at the chair and noticed the mechanical armor man with the bat mask and chest with his right leg on top of his left. The mystery man cackled evilly as he stared at Tobias._

 _"You can't do this!" Tobias exclaimed in tired anger, "You know this isn't right!"_

 _The mystery man said nothing as he stared emotionlessly as the teen before nodding to his henchmen._

 _"NO!" Tobias yelled as he tried to fight back, but the sedative was too strong. They took him to the encased table full of water, placed him inside and chained him. Tobias was then sealed in with the gas injecting mask on his face as the dream began to turn fuzzy. Next thing he noticed, a distorted figure reached over the case looked directly at Tobias. The only details Tobias could describe him were that he was mostly red but with a green face._

 _"Don't worry, Toby… it'll all be over soon…" The figure said with an evil laugh in a distorted voice before everything went black._

* * *

Tobias then found woke up from the dream, almost gasping as he sat up on his bed. His family would have heard him gasp if he had not covered his mouth with both hands. He released his mouth and breathed heavily as tried to process what happened in the dream.

"Again?" Tobias said in both surprise and worry, "With more details than the last memory. My subconsciousness must be trying to give my brain the relevant neurons it needs to regain some memories of when I was gone. If that's the case, the gas those guys injected me with must have some kind of amnesia-causing substance."

Tobias then placed a hand on his chin in thought as he said, "Whatever it is, I have to isolate the variables and figure out how to solve this problem fast so I find out the identity of my kidnappers, and what they have to do with Dad."

Just then, before Tobias could get out of bed, he heard his phone ding from right next to the bed. He looked at it to see who was texting him this early, expecting one of his friends being the sender. Instead, Tobias saw that the message was from an unknown number, meaning anyone could have texted him and he won't know who.

"Who's texting me?" Tobias quirked a brow in suspicion, trying to decide if he should open the text or not. He took a deep breath and prayed to God that it wasn't a trap before opening the message.

 _"I know what happened to you,"_ The text read, making Tobias curious before another text popped up saying, _"I know about the people who experimented on you. The same people who gave you amnesia."_

That last sentence surprised Tobias a bit. He never told anyone about that, except for his family, who promised him they wouldn't say too much about it. Tobias gave it some thought and he narrowed it down to three possibilities: either his friends ignored his suggestion and told some people about the amnesia, Daniel is playing a very lousy prank on him, or this text message is for real. To confirm this, Tobias grabbed the walkie talkie that could contact his friends, adjusted the settings, and spoke into it.

"Hey, Danny, did you send me a text just to pull a prank on me?" He asked in an offended tone. At first, there was silence on the other end - aside from all the feedback - but then Tobias heard some groans and moans, as if someone had just woken up.

 _"Huh… Toby…?"_ Daniel's voice replied in a yawn, _"Why are you calling on the walkie talkie? And more importantly… why are you calling this early? It's 7:00 AM, man."_

"Daniel, did you send me a couple of texts about my amnesia?" Tobias concisely repeated his question.

"… _What? What do you mean?"_ Daniel asked tiredly, confused at the sound of that accusation, " _I didn't send any texts. I couldn't have texted you anyway… my family has this new rule about no phones on past 10:00 PM."_

"Seriously?" Tobias quirked as brow, confused by this development.

 _"Mom got a little paranoid over the course of the kidnappings, and was afraid that if we had our phones on after dark, she thought the guys who got you might track us that way,"_ Daniel explained in an annoyed tone, _"And why would I make fun of amnesiacs? That's just not right. You're sweating the wrong guy, Toby."_

"Well, if you didn't send me that text, then who did?" Tobias asked before he received another text.

 _"Meet me at the old dam," It read, "Bring your friends with you, along with the Driver and Bottles. Tell no one."_

Tobias then got more curious and at the same time, more and more concerned. But the only way to find out if this was about his father was find out who was texting him.

 _"Who are you?"_ Tobias typed, _"What do you know about my kidnappers?"_

 _"Now, where's the fun in just telling you right now?"_ The unknown contact responded rather quickly, _"But for the sake of identity, you can call me Blood Stalk."_

'Blood Stalk?' Tobias echoed in his head before texting again, _"Alright then 'Blood Stalk,' how'd you even get my number?"_

Tobias sent the text and waited for a reply. He waited for a minuted and there was no response from Blood Stalk. He waited five more minutes, no response. He waited _ten_ more minutes, no response.

 _"Uh, Blood Stalk? You there?"_ Tobias sent another text. There was still no response from the unknown contact. This was starting to sound suspicious to Tobias as he rubbed his chin in thought.

'I wonder who that was?' Tobias thought in suspicion, 'And how'd he know about my memory loss?'

Tobias then got a nervous feeling before thinking about the request the contact made. Should he ignore him and let the Guardians take care of this, and keep his friends safe? Or should he heed the man's words, risk possibly losing the people he cares about, and follow some random information about the kidnappers that may or may not lead him to his father's whereabouts. After five more minutes of deep thought, he came to a conclusion…

"I'm gonna find out what he knows," Tobias said in determination as he stood up from his bed, "If he knows something about my dad and whoever kidnapped me, I need to see for myself."

Tobias went into his closet and put on a gray an orange shirt with a gunmetal gray pair of shorts, with mismatching shoes, orange on the left and and gunmetal gray on the right. He then grabbed a light nougat-colored hoodie and a blue checkered scarf, since it was going to be a chilly day today. Tobias went over to the case, grabbed the Build Driver and FullBottles, put them into his black, red and blue backpack, and placed it on his back. He then grabbed his phone and the walkie talkie before walking out of the room. He walked down the stairs and found his mother, sisters and little brother all watching TV. The news seemed to be on and the weatherman was explaining that it was going to rain today.

"Morning guys," Tobias said, getting their attention, "Where's Jacob?"

"Oh, he's on early patrol duty - captain's orders," Clarissa explained before noticing her younger brother's attire, "Why are you dressed so early?"

"Oh, I was planning on heading over to Angus' to hang out with the guys some more," Tobias explained, making his family feeling a bit uneasy, especially his mother.

"Um… I don't know, Toby Dear," Maria said, a little hesitant to let her son out of the house.

"Look, I know the kidnappers are still out there and how uncomfortable you guys are about going outside alone," Tobias explained himself, "But I promise you, I'll be within see distance of the Guardian, with a group of friends, and I'll be back before dusk. Can I please go?"

Tobias' family gave it some thought. Initially, they were all hesitant, but they know that keeping him in the house all the time wasn't exactly healthy. So he should go out there with some friends.

"Alright, you can go see your friends," Maria approved, making her son smile as he walked to the door, "Just be careful, Toby!"

"I will, Mom!" Tobias replied before heading outside and closing the door. He headed down the driveway and headed for the old dam as rain slightly poured onto his hood. he pulled out his walkie talkie.

"Hey, guys, are you all awake yet?" Tobias asked hopefully.

 _"Ugh… I am now, Tobes,"_ Angus spoke.

 _"What up, Tobester?"_ Cyrus replied.

 _"What's up, Toby?"_ Lana asked.

 _"That's twice you called me this morning, man,"_ Daniel groaned.

"Yeah, sorry for the early-morning wake-up call, guys," Tobias apologized before getting more concise, "Hey, listen, do you guys remember what I said about meeting me at the treehouse this morning?"

 _"Yeah,"_ They all replied.

"Well, there's been a change in plans," Tobias said, getting the other curious, "Meet me at the old city dam."

 _"What? Why?!"_ His friends demanded an answer.

"I'll explain later, but what I _can_ say right now is that we can't tell anyone about what we found yesterday," Tobias explained bluntly, "Something tells me it involves us somehow."

 _"…Okay, I'll be there, Tobes,"_ Angus said.

 _"I'll see you all there!"_ Lana exclaimed.

 _"Same here, dudes,"_ Cyrus agreed.

 _"I'll always have your guys' backs!"_ Daniel assured them.

"Alright, I meet you all there, over and out!" Tobias said before hanging up and continued to the dam, wondering who's waiting for them, "Whoever waiting for us, we need to be careful. And I _need_ to find out who this person is and what their connection is to Dad."

* * *

 _ **THE SAME DAY; BACK IN THE MOUNTAINS**_

* * *

The alien probe managed to complete its task and return to the cave containing the robots. The probe collected a massive amount of data on Earth's vehicles and technology. It connected itself back into the computer terminal, downloading the data.

 _ **"** ** _D_ ATA ON PLANET'S NATIVE VEHICLES COLLECTED," **_The computer said as it finished receiving the probe's collected data, _**"** ** _D_ OWNLOAD COMPLETE! BEGINNING CYBERTRONIAN REPAIR SEQUENCE!"**_

The computer then opened hidden compartments with robotic arms equipped with tools such as welding torches, wrenches and drills. It chose a black, purple and gray robot winged robot with an orange chest and silver face and a purple symbol on the wings. The computer not only started to fix it, but modify it as well. After a few minutes, the robot was configured into a black F-15 Eagle fighter jet with purple fin wings, purple patterns on the main wings, a purple nose and thrusters, and silver front engines with an orange cockpit. The symbols from before remained on top of the wings.

 _ **"** ** _D_ ECEPTICON SKYWARP REPAIRED," **_The computer said before the jet reconfigured itself back into a robot. "Skywarp" was five-meter tall robot with the cockpit folding into the torso unit, the wings rotating to face downwards and the thrusters facing upwards, the guns and missile launchers folding up into his body. Arms with purple hands and black upper arms and shoulders folded out, equipped with blasters, along with black legs with purple feet. The main body was silver, with the front engines pointing out of the front. A black head with with a silver head popped out of the torso, optics glowing bright red. His right shoulder had the same symbol as the wings. Skywarp was now online.

"Huh?" Skywarp mumbled in a male voice, "What happened?"

Skywarp looked around and saw all the beaten robots on the ground. Memories from long ago began to flow back into his mind.

"Of course!" He exclaimed, "We were fighting the Autobots, but then something went wrong with the Space Bridge. We ended up crashing on the target planet, and we all must've gone into sleep mode for who knows how long."

 _ **"** ** _A_ PPROXIMATELY, 7.3906 MILLION STELLAR CYCLES," **_The computer explained, making Skywarp face the main terminal.

"Ah, Teletraan I, good to see you survived the crash," Skywarp said as he approached the panel, "What's happening here?"

 _ **"** ** _CY_ BERTRONIAN REPAIR SEQUENCE," **_It answered, _**" _DUE_ TO CRASH, ALL CYBERTRONIANS ABOARD NEED TO BE REPAIRED!"**_

"I wouldn't necessarily say _all_ of them," Skywarp said mischievously before typing on the holographic keyboard, trying to gain access, "Time to wake my Decepticon brothers."

After he finished typing in a code, the terminal spoke up.

 _ **"** **ACCESS DENIED!"**_ It rejected the coe, making Skywarp furious.

"Why you little-!" The Decepticon slammed his metallic fist on the keyboard in frustration. Just then, the computer showed an unlocking motion.

 _ **"** ** _AC_ CESS GRANTED! REPAIR SEQUENCE MODIFIED EXCLUSIVELY FOR DECEPTICONS," **_Teletraan spoke, making Skywarp smile deviously.

"Nice!" He exclaimed as the computer started repairing a silver Decepticon with a black blaster on its right forearm. Reconfigured the robot into a silver US Army tank with a black cannon and black guns.

 _ **"** **DECEPTICON MEGATRON REPAIRED,"**_ Teletraan said before the Decepticon started to change back into robot mode. Megatron had red and silver arms with black hands, a silver chest with a Decepticon symbol on it and red highlights, the lower torso was black and legs were silver with the tank treads on the back. The tank cannon shifted onto Megatron's right arms as his head folded out of his chest, optics glowing red.

Megatron stumbled a bit as he tried to walk and was caught by Skywarp.

"I got you, Megatron," Skywarp said as he helped the silver robot stand up.

"S-Skywarp…" Megatron muttered as he held his head, "What happened?"

"We crashed," Skywarp explained, "Teletraan I just fixed me and you."

"I see…" Megatron said as he felt like he could walk on his own now as Skywarp let him go. Memories from then flowed into his mind about what happened before the crash. He then stared at a red robot with a red symbol and a blue head before laughing softly, and at the same time, wickedly.

"I see time hasn't been well to you, Optimus Prime," Megatron said before facing Skywarp again, "Quickly, Skywarp! We must revive the other Decepticons!"

"Yes, Megatron," Skywarp nodded before they both started to grab the other Decepticons, bringing them to the center of the room for repair.

* * *

 _ **THE SAME DAY; AN HOUR LATER; THE OLD SKYLINE CITY DAM**_

* * *

Tobias eventually made it just outside the old dam for the city. After the Sky Wall Disaster, massive floods originating from unknown origins started to destroy nearby towns and villages. To fix this problem, the Divisionary capitals built dams to keep all that water at bay. The old Skyline City dam is what originally kept massive amounts of water out of the city and let smaller, filtered amounts in for power, watering plants, and keeping people hydrated. However, the dam was shortly closed after it was built, due to a design flaw causing explosions in the main dam tower, so a new dam was placed right in front of the old one, with the old dam's hatches fully opened, releasing the contained water. The old dam was then quarantined by the Guardians, deeming it unsafe and hazardous to go to. Many people accepted that rule, aside from the teenagers who sneak in via a hidden path through a nearby forest. And Tobias and his friends were about to become those teenagers.

Tobias waited at the hidden trail near the old dam, waiting for his friends to arrive. After a while of waiting he noticed them coming his way. Tobias was happy for them to come along, but was also ashamed to make them arrive at this hour. They all looked tired and exhausted, and were also determined to get answers - especially from Tobias as to why he got them up so early, and at a place deemed dangerous for ten years.

"Hey, guys," He greeted them with a wave.

"You better have a good reason why I had to ditch my dad's girlfriend at an early hour," Angus replied bluntly, hoping for a reasonable explanation.

"Agreed, but with _my_ parents," Lana added on.

"Spill the beans, Tobes," Cyrus demanded before yawning.

"And explain why you accused me of pranking you this morning," Daniel demanded as well. They all seemed desperate for answers right now.

"Follow me and I'll explain everything on the way," Tobias requested. His friends seemed a bit hesitant at first, but then they all nodded in response, accepting his terms. Tobias smiled in relief as they all started walking down the path to the old dam.

"Okay…" Tobias spoke up, "I know we said to meet up back at the tree house, but something grabbed my attention."

"Was it a text about your memory loss?" Daniel inquired, getting the feeling they were all being punked.

"Precisely, Daniel," Tobias answered as they reached the main bridge leading to the dam's interior entrance, with more rain hitting their heads, "The texts were from an unknown number, and they told me they knew about the people who experimented on me, my memory loss and to meet with him here with you guys, bringing the Build Driver and FullBottles."

"Well, do you have those things?" Angus asked, a bit concerned on where this was heading.

"Right in the backpack," Tobias reassured them with a pat on his backpack, "Whoever sent me that text had to have known something about the Build Driver and why it was in my father's case. I asked them about it, they wouldn't say anything other than their name."

"Which is?" Lana asked, determined to hear the name.

"They went by the name of Blood Stalk," Tobias replied, making everyone look at each other, feeling spooked.

"Well, that's not ominous at all," Cyrus said in sarcasm as a shiver went down his spine.

"Agreed," Tobias nodded.

"So you think meeting this 'Blood Stalk' will explain everything?" Lana said, getting a bad feeling, "You realize this could be a trap."

"I know, but I have to know what's going on," Tobias told them, "If there's even a slim clue on my dad's whereabouts, I have to take this chance!"

"Okay, man whatever you-" Daniel began but was stopped as he and the others noticed the door to the dam was opened, with a busted door knob, "Say…"

"Uh, Tobes, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't that door be closed and locked up… magnetically tightly?" Angus asked in concern.

"You're right, Angus," Tobias said in both equal concern and shock before examining the door knob closely, "And it looks like it was broken by a blunt yet strong force, according the dents."

"But I thought these doors were inches thick, way hard for anyone to bust open," Cyrus spoke in a bit of fright.

"I don't think it was a matter of man that did this, Cyrus," Tobias said as he stood up, making them quirk their brows, "The magnetic locks keeping the door shut, plus the thickness of the door is strong enough to withstand a full speeding charge of a bull. Whatever did this kind of damage to the door had the strength of a fully-grown rhinoceros and a middle-aged adolescent together."

"So, what are you saying?" Daniel said, no longer feeling like he was being punked, "Who or whatever did this had super strength?"

"Apparently so," Tobias confirmed as he gently opened the door - making it creak very loudly - revealing darkness in a room, "Anyone have a flashlight on them?"

"Got you covered, dude," Cyrus said as he pulled out an LED lantern from his backpack.

"You carry a lantern around?" Angus said suspiciously.

"Just in case we decide to go camping one of these days," Cyrus said as he turned on the lantern.

"Alright, everyone, stay close to Cyrus and keep a lookout," Tobias said as they walked in, staying close to Cyrus.

The group walked in the darkness, and everything was as silent as a lion in the tall grass of the Savannah. That made the group very alert; who knows who or what could sneak up on them. To be honest, none of them knew what they were dealing with here. Shivers went down their spines as they prayed to God that everything will be alright. As of this moment, they didn't know if what they were doing was either brave or stupid, especially since who or whatever broke open the door was in there, and was packing incredible strength.

"Uh… y-you guys see anything…?" Tobias said in a shaky voice.

"No… and I'm having trouble deciding if I should either be thrilled we don't see anything, or terrified that we don't see anything coming right at us," Angus replied, getting a little more paranoid.

"That makes at least two of us, Angus," Lana said in an equally paranoid tone.

"It's real cold here, too," Cyrus said with a shiver before they all heard something spark, startling them, "What. Was. That?!"

"Sounded like an electrical spark…" Angus affirmed, looking for the source of the sound.

"That shouldn't be possible," Tobias stated, "Once the old dam shut down, so did all the power for safety reasons."

Just then, the lights in the room turned on brightly. They appeared to be in a wide-spaced room with nothing but a few tables and walls of piping still installed. The sight of the lights turning on by themselves, however, is what really got their attention, given that nothing in the old dam was supposed to work anymore.

"Apparently, not all the power," Lana observed as she and the others looked around the room, trying to find anyone who could've turned on the lights.

"Okay, the word 'trap' is shouting in my head repeatedly in my head, guys," Daniel said, feeling more nervous than before.

"So we're all in agreement; we're leaving now," Angus said, receiving nods from everyone except for Tobias, who had a nervous yet determined look, "Look, Tobes, it's like you said: no one's supposed to be here. I think we should listen and get out of here."

Tobias sighed in both agreement and defeat, "You're right, let's go back."

The five friends were about to get out the way they came, but when they turned around, someone… no… some _thing_ stopped them in their tracks.

It was a monster. An actual, living, _breathing,_ monster. The monster had a human shaped body, but it had a more abnormal appearance. The entire body was metallic, with gray legs, cubic yellow arms and body, a blue left arm with elongated, pipe-like fingers, and a large blue right hand with a sword instead of an actual hand. The head of the creature was a yellow block with blue squares and a blue neck covered by broken yellow block. Whatever it was, it gave them the feeling of regret ever coming to the dam as it walked towards them in a menacing manner.

"Uh… Tobes?" Cyrus stuttered as they all slowly backed away with every step that monster took, "Would Blood Stalk look anything like that?"

"Don't know, wouldn't even know how to describe him," Tobias gulped before they all backed into a wall. The group of friends were now officially terrified, knowing that they were cornered between a rock and hard place.

"Oh, something tells me we're screwed here," Lana said in even more terror.

The mysterious creature then yelled an inhuman roar before it started to run straight at them.

"Yep, we're screwed!" Lana yelled in a panic, "SCATTER!"

The others heeded her panicked suggestion as they all ran away from the wall in two directions - Tobias and Lana to the left, and Angus, Daniel and Cyrus to the right - making the monster barely miss them when it swung its blade down. The others hit the dirt as they witnessed the monster create a giant cut in the concrete. Tobias was stood there in shock; no matter of man could do such damage with just one swing. Then again, that _thing_ was no man at all.

The creature turned back around to face them ready to charge again. This made the five friends panic more.

"Uh… any ideas? Anybody?" Cyrus asked as the monster charged towards him, Angus and Daniel, hoping someone would know how to fight it.

"Well, I'm not gonna sit around and let that thing take us out," Angus said with a serious expression, refusing to let that monster toss them around like rag dolls. He got into a defensive stance, prepared to fight as the monster approached him and swung his blade at him. Angus managed to dodge the attacks with a bit of ease, thanks to his martial arts training.

"Angus, get the hell out of there!" Tobias yelled, hoping his friend won't do anything stupid.

"You know I don't back away so easily, Tobes!" Angus shot back before dodging another swing of the monster's blade, and delivering a punch of his own to the face.

That turned out to be a big mistake…

"Gah!" Angus groaned loudly in pain as he held his right fist. He then noticed Tobias making an expression saying 'I told you so!' and 'Are you okay?'

"Okay, admittedly, that didn't turn out the way I wanted it," Angus said before the monster grabbed him by the shoulder and literally threw him across the room. Angus managed to land in a roll before coming to a stop, holding his right fist and his thigh. That scene made the looks on his four friends turned into both shock and anger as they all stood back up.

"Nobody messes my friends and gets away with it!" Tobias seethed as he tried to approach the monster, but was stopped by Lana, who stuck her left arm in front of him.

"Stay behind me, Toby!" She exclaimed, shocking him.

"What?!" Tobias said in disbelief as he saw the monster approaching Angus in the same menacing manner as before, "That thing is about to kill Angus and you want me to stay behind you?!"

"We lost you once, man, we're losing you again!" Lana said before she charged at the monster and grabbed it by the left arm, trying to hold it back.

"Yeah, Tobester, stand down!" Cyrus exclaimed as an order for his friend's own good as he ran up to the monster and grabbed it's opposite arm.

"We got this, man!" Daniel added as he ran and held the creature by the abdomen with both arms, trying to push it back.

Tobias looked at them in shock for both facing the monster head on _and_ the fact they were doing it _without_ him. He understood that they didn't want to see him hurt after his kidnapping half a year ago, but he couldn't just sit there and watch his friends put their lives on the line. He had to do something, and his head quickly popped up with an idea… and even he didn't like it.

As the three of the five friends struggled to push the monster back away from Angus, it was proving itself to be stronger than they considered. The monster then jerked itself back to loosen Daniel's grip before kicking him away, making him land on his back next to Angus. The monster then swung its arms forward to throw Lana and Cyrus towards Angus and Daniel. Lana landed on her back on the concrete surface, but her right shoulder made a popping sound, making her hold it in pain, while Cyrus had a softer yet painful landing on his front, on top of Daniel, making him gasp in both lack of breath and pain to the abdomen.

"Oh… son of a…" Daniel groaned in pain, hoping for the pain to be over.

"Sorry, Dan," Cyrus apologized as he slowly got off his friend and rolled onto his back, both of which being in pain.

"So… strong…" Lana muttered as she struggled to get up. The four friends looked up and saw that the monster was right on top of them, making them all fear the worst. They all took deep breaths and closed their eyes - except for Angus - hoping for their lives to be ended quickly.

"I guess… this is it," Cyrus said, seeing no hope for them now, "See you guys in another life."

"Not gonna happen…" Angus said as he stood up and got into another fighting stance, "I don't feel like dying today."

Angus made determined expression on his face, ready to fight the monster and take it down. He didn't care how hurt he felt, he didn't feel like losing. Although, defeat seemed inevitable as the monster snarled, getting ready to charge again.

"Yo, blockhead!"

Just then, Tobias jumped onto the monster by its back. He grabbed it by its neck to try and distract it from his friends, but once it realized what he was doing, the monster swung its body side to side, trying to shake him off. Tobias was lifted into the air - still grasping the monster's neck - and as he was swinging from left to right, he felt nauseous, which became noticeable by his friends seeing his green face.

"Tobes, what the hell are you doing?!" Angus exclaimed in fear and shock, "Get of there!"

"Believe me, I'd love to!" Tobias said in a shaky voice due to all the twisting and turning, "But if I let go, I'd be sent flying!"

Tobias' prediction came true as the monster tossed him behind it. Tobias rolled in a landing, right next to his backpack. The monster turned around and slowly approached Tobias as his dizziness and nausea slowly went away. Once he recovered enough to move, Tobias turned and saw the monster walking towards him, and he was pretty sure it was looking at him in a pissed-off manner. Tobias crawled back a bit, but he knew he was about to be cornered as he was closing in on a wall and the monster slowly approached him.

"Oh no, you don't!" Angus exclaimed as he charged at the monster. As he grabbed it by the arm, Lana, Cyrus and Daniel managed to get back on their feet. The monster then swung its arm back and pushed Angus off and into his friends who caught him. The monster started to approach them now, making Tobias feel more petrified. He feared the fact of losing his friends, especially after losing his father all those years ago. And what made it even worse was the fact that he brought them here. Tobias was so desperate for answers, he didn't realize that was putting the lives of his friends in danger. This was Tobias' mistake, and he feared that he would never be able to fix it.

'No… this is all my fault…' He thought as both nervous sweats and tears of sadness dripped down his face, 'I never should've brought them here. In fact, I never should've came here in the first place! And now my friends are gonna be killed by that thing because of me…'

As Tobias watched the monster approach his friends, he noticed his backpack was a bit unzipped, with the Build Driver's crank sticking out. He quickly crawled over to the pack to see if there was something he could use against the creature. When he fully unzipped the pack, he saw the Driver before further dig into it. Despite the current situation, he wondered why he needed to bring it along with him, let alone why he had it in the first place. But then he started to remember what he read on the flash drive.

 _"The so-called 'Build Driver' is a device that can manifest the traits and characteristics of organic and inorganic materials from the purified essence of FullBottles and combine them into a bio-boosted armor designed for combat."_

The last word in that sentence dropped a bomb on his head. He pulled both the Driver and the FullBottles out of the backpack and stared down at them as he stood back up. If the device and bottles were designed for combat, then maybe he could use them here to defeat the monster. Maybe that's why he was called here. Only problem is that he no idea how to use it. That didn't stop him as a determined expression appeared on his face before placing the Build Driver on his waist, making a yellow belt wrap around his waist, with a slot holder on his left side.

'I don't know how to use it…' He thought before taking the Rabbit FullBottle with his left hand, 'But I'll just have to wing it… because I won't let that thing hurt anyone I care most about!'

"Let's test it out then," Tobias gripped the bottles tightly as his mismatching colored eyes glowed bright in red and blue, "I guess it's time… no, it is time…"

He then stared at the before holding them both up beside his head, "…Time to begin the experiment."

Tobias then started to shake the bottles, causing the liquid substance to make hard shaking sounds. As he did this, he saw white equations of physics, biology, chemistry and engineering floating around him in a circle. His friends noticed this and so did the monster as it turned around to face Tobias. Tobias examined the equations carefully, as if they looked familiar to him, like he knew what they meant. Lightbulbs were turning on in his brain, as if they were giving him an idea on how to use the Build Driver and how to defeat the monster. Tobias then nodded in understanding and stared back at the monster intensely before twisting the caps on the FullBottles and inserting them into the Build Driver, making their molds project out as holograms.

 _ **Rabbit!**_ _ **Tank!**_

 _ **Best**_ _ **Match!**_

The rabbit and tank symbols then merged into the same symbol as on the driver with right half being red with a white "R", and the left half being blue with a white "T." The big gear glowed the respective colors of the bottles as it was waiting for something. Tobias had an idea on what to do as he saw the belt's crank, and figured out what it was for.

'Here goes nothing,' He thought to himself in a bit nervousness as he turned the belt's crank, which spun the three gears and made the liquid within the two bottles rise and lower.

The belt made gear-shifting sounds as the big gear shined with red and blue lights. Within the belt, pistons, coils springs, gears and other parts were working with the turns of the crank as two pipes extended out of the bottles and two stands appeared in front and behind him. The pipes extended about five feet away from Tobias as he stopped turning the crank. The pipes were clear at first, but they were filled with the red and blue liquids. Strangely, though, they were each forming what seemed to be some kind half-bodies. The red one had the left half of the head, right half of the arms and chest, and the left leg, while the blue half filled in the other halves.

 _ **Are You**_ _ **Ready?**_

"Um… _Hens_ _hin…?"_ Tobias said,

The two liquid structures then slammed into each other, covering Tobias' body, along with a big cloud of steam. The stand then, but the steam was so thick, the current area was too hard to define what was happening to Tobias.

"Tobes?!" Cyrus said loudly, worried for his friend. A look of confusion replaced their looks of fear when they saw red and blue visors shaped like a rabbit's head and ear sticking out the left side, and a side view of a tank with it and the barrel pointing up to the right side. When the smoke cleared, they saw that Tobias was okay, but changed.

Tobias was now in the armor described in the blueprints. The suit had spiralled armor all over the legs, arms, chest and head. The top right half of the head, the left arm and the right leg were blue to match the Tank FullBottle, while the lower left half of his head, his right arm and left leg were red like the Rabbit FullBottle. His upper chest was red with a rabbit ear going over the left shoulder, and a gap between the red was blue with a tank barrel going along and below the ear. He also had some black gaps of armor on his wrists, the lower torso and waist, his knees, backside and his lower legs. His neck was also black protected by a black neck guard, and on his head was a white crystal. His lower left leg was covered by a white spring with a black anklet with a red arrow pointing to the ground, while his right foot was molded to look like the caterpillars of a tank. Tobias was now feeling more power surging through his body in this new armored form.

 _ **Hagane no M**_ _ **oonsault!**_ _ **Rabbit**_ _ **Tank!**_ _ **YA**_ _ **Y~**_ _ **!**_ _ **!**_

"What the hell?!" Tobias exclaimed as he tried to feel his face with his hands, only to feel the helmet covering it, "What is this?"

Within the helmet was a head-up display that view the statistics of the armored suit and belt. This started to make him feel like Iron Man, which made him feel a bit giddy.

"Whoa, awesome!" He said in awe.

"Toby?" Lana said in disbelief. The monster then decided it spent enough time observing Tobias and charged at him.

"LOOK OUT!" The friends exclaimed, snapping Tobias out of his trance and making him notice the monster charging at him. The monster then swung its blade arm at him, but surprisingly, Tobias managed to duck and avoid it with ease, as if he'd gained more speed. The monster kept on swinging its blade, but Tobias continued to dodge the attacks.

"Whoa, I don't remember being so fast," Tobias said as he moved frequently, "I mean, I ran away from bullies and angry dogs as a child, and _that_ was fast, but I don't think it was _this_ fast!"

They all saw him battle in both astoundment and disbelief. Tobias was somehow as athletic as Lana and as strong as Angus. If they hadn't seen it, they wouldn't believe it. And now he's using those skills to fight the monster.

Tobias eventually got overconfident as the monster struck him with one swipe of the sword, creating sparks off the armor and pushing him back, landing on his knees and right hand. Tobias' friends gasped in fear, but were even more surprised to see Tobias stand back up after taking a heavy blow.

"Okay, now's not the time for words," He said as he got into a fighting stance, "Now's the time for action!"

With a yell, Tobias ran of to the monster and struck it with his fists. He assumed he would feel pain like when he tried to punch out of his armor, but it hardly even made him flinch now. However, he noticed that his Tank half was creating spark from each impact, while the Rabbit half made a small shockwave. Tobias then noticed the monster about to swing it's sword again, but this time, Tobias managed to block it with his left Tank arm.

"Whoa," Tobias said before pushing the monster back before spinning around and kicking it with his right foot. The monster was forced back before it charged at Tobias again, quickly this time. But Tobias was slightly faster as the spring on his left leg compressed and glowed red before releasing itself, making him jump into the air, onto and off of the monster and landing behind it on his feet.

"Heh, I don't know what's happening, but it's _frickin_ awesome; the perfect combination between _speed_ and _strength!"_ Tobias exclaimed before the HUD started beeping, "What the…"

Tobias saw the computer making plans for what seemed to be a final attack to defeat this monster. At first, he didn't understand before seeing the plans on how it's done.

"Huh… apparently, I've found the winning formula," Tobias explained before rotating the crank on the belt numerously, making the gears shift again. When he finished, the belt's large gear glowed different colors as it charged up.

 _ **Ready,**_ _ **Go!**_

"One moment, please," Tobias said to the monster before turning around and running in the direction opposite of the monster. As he did, his left foot left large, red rabbit foot holograms that eventually faded away, and his right foot made sparks fly when it made impact with the ground.

"Yo, Tobes, where are you going?!" Angus exclaimed in shock of his now courageous friend suddenly fleeing. Little did he know that his friend was planning on delivering the final strike. Tobias then jumped into the air, and when landed, he made a hole in the ground.

Out of the hole, a white chart of solid energy appeared in the shape of a two-dimensional graph. The graph appeared to be that of an exponential equation which wrapped the end of itself tightly around monster at the end. Tobias then jumped out of the ground, carried by a rock from below. He then got into a drop kick position an began riding along the path of the chart.

 _ **Voltech**_ _ **Finish!**_ _**YAY!**_

Tobias then eventually kicked the monster in the face with his right foot, while the bottom of it was acting like an active tank's tread and spun so fast, the monster couldn't take it. Spark flew off the monster as Tobias jumped over it at landed behind it. The monster screamed in pain before it practically exploded in green fire. When the smoke cleared, the monster was somehow still alive and kicking, or it would be if it weren't lying on the ground in exhaustion and defeat.

"The Laws of Victory have been set," Tobias said, crouching on the ground. He then stood up and saw his friends staring at him with widened eyes and open mouths.

"Tobes, is… is that really you?" Angus said in a hint of disbelief.

"Yeah, guys, it's me," Tobias reassured them as they all approached him, "I look a bit different, but it's still me."

"How did you do all that?" Lana asked in confusion, "Last time I checked you never had my athleticism or Angus' martial arts training."

"I wish I knew, Lana," Tobias said as he pulled out both bottles out of his belt, making him detransform. He then looked down at the bottles in suspicion.

"But if I had to guess, I'd say the bottles had something to do with enhancing my abilities," He predicted, "Both them and the Build Driver were created for some reason…"

Tobias then stared at the monster just laying there in exhaustion as he said, "And I hypothesize that reason is to take this thing down, whatever it is."

"I'm with that motion, Tobes," Angus nodded along with everyone else before facing his best friend, "Oh, and one more thing…"

"What?" Tobias quirked a brow in confusion.

Just then, Angus raised his fist before lightly hit it against Tobias' forehead, hard. This action shocked everyone, especially Tobias, though Lana, Cyrus and Daniel couldn't help but think that Tobias deserved it a bit.

"Ow!" Tobias held his forehead in pain before looking back at Angus, "What was that for?!"

"That was for scaring us a second time," Angus scolded him, "I mean, seriously, we told you not to get into that fight. Not to mention, you could've been turned into a human pancake."

Tobias felt a bit sorry for not listening to his friends the moment he heard Angus say that. But to him, the result was worth it.

"Hey, I know you guys feel like you need to keep me safe, but it wouldn't matter to me if you guys were killed," Tobias explained himself, "You guys were there for me for a long time, and it was my time to be there for you guys."

"Don't go all sappy on us now, Toby," Lana said as she rubbed her arm.

"How's the arm?" Tobias asked in concern, remembering how she landed on it when she was holding back the monster.

"Eh, it'll be fine, it's just a bit bruised," Lana reassured him.

"I'd explain all the medical terminology regarding how hurt your arm was, but I have a feeling you don't want to hear it," Tobias said with a small smile.

Daniel then spoke up and said, "Uh, I don't want interrupt, but what do we do with him… her… it?"

Daniel pointed to the monster - which was still surrounded by green flames - wondering what they should do with it since Tobias defeated it. That question got everyone confused, especially Tobias.

"Hmm, good question," Tobias said as he scratched his head in thought.

"Well, we can't bring back home, or to the scrapyard," Cyrus clarified, "People will get suspicious, including the E.D. Guardian patrols."

"Well, we can't leave it here either," Lana shot back, "What if it wakes up and follows back into the city?"

"Can't bring it home, can't bring it to the scrapyard, can't leave it here," Tobias recapped the choices, but decided it was impossible to find the right way out of this situation, "We're out of options here, guys."

 _"Not particularly,"_ A mysterious voice spoke up.

They looked around the room and saw someone's left arm coming out of a shadow - covered by a black jacket and a glove - holding and pointing a clear bottle similar to the what Tobias used at the monster. The bottle shined brightly for a moment before the monster and the flames lit up into light before turning to into energy that went into the bottle, making it colored at the center, but also making it look a bit larger and more ferocious. As the energy left, a African-American man in his mid-twenties with short hair and in white clothing was now laying there, covered in injuries. This shocked the group of friends - they had no idea that _thing_ was really human. The group then looked back at the mystery man, but could only see his silhouette in the darkness as he faced them. The shade was making his face too dark to describe it, however, they could tell that he was around six feet tall. They could also see the silhouette of a case in his right hand, making them get more suspicious as Tobias readied his FullBottles again.

The man chuckled in amusement, further confusing them as he said, _"There's no need for that, Tobias Franklin."_

The mystery man saying his full name sent a shiver down his spine, but the now-intelligent boy kept a straight face as he asked, "Who are you?"

 _"My name is of no concern,"_ The man said bluntly before throwing the bottle to them, with Tobias catching it and looking at it, _"That monster you fought was called a Smash."_

"A Smash?" Tobias echoed in confusion.

 _"Say what you want about the name, but it suits them well,"_ The man explained, _"Smashes are humans genetically modified to have one goal: to destroy anything and everything in their path."_

"What? How?" Tobias asked, no knowing of such a thing.

 _"I can't tell you just yet, but I can tell you that they can be defeated with the Build Driver,"_ The man explained further as the group of friends got even more curious by the minute, _"After defeating a Smash, take an empty FullBottle and capture the essence. Type in 'Nebula Purifier' into the search engine of the flash drive. It'll give you all the information you need to defeat the Smashes._

The friends looked at each other, a bit wary of trusting a stranger giving advice. Tobias then said, "How do we know you can be trusted?"

 _"Maybe you do trust me, maybe you don't,"_ The man said before crouching down and setting the case he had in front of him _"All that matters is that you need to fight the Smashes, and you'll need these to do so."_

The man then pushed and slid the case to the group of friends. Angus crouched down and caught it before standing up straight and opening it, revealing more empty FullBottles.

"What the hell are these for?" Angus demanded an answer.

 _"You'll find out soon enough,"_ The mystery man laughed before steam started to surround him. The laughter was beginning to fade away, making Tobias desperate for more answers.

"WAIT!" Tobias ran to the man's location, but when the steam cleared, he was gone. Tobias has now lost a chance of finding out who that was, and what he knew about his memory loss.

Angus walked up right next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder as he said, "Don't worry, Tobes, we'll get him next time."

"I hope you're right, Angus," Tobias said with a depressed look on his face before they heard groaning. They all heard the groaning coming from the unconscious man and turned to see him tossing and turning a bit on the ground, as if he were having a bad dream.

"Uh… is he…?" Daniel gulped, hoping that Tobias didn't kill someone.

Tobias went to the man and knelt down to touch his neck with his fingers, hoping there was a pulse. After a few minutes of waiting, the guys saw and heard Tobias sigh in relief.

"An average pulse of 92 beats per minute," Tobias smiled in assurance as he stood up, "He's just unconscious."

That assurance made the others sigh in equal relief.

"That's good to hear, dude," Cyrus said with as he rubbed the sweat off his head, "I thought that guy was dying for a second."

"That makes both of…" Angus said before he got a better look at the man. His eyes widened in shock as he realized who he was.

"No way!" Angus said in disbelief, confusing the others.

"What is it, Angus?" Tobias asked with a quirked brow.

"I recognize this guy!" Angus explained.

"You do?" Daniel asked in confusion.

"Yeah, I saw this guy on a Missing Person poster," Angus clarified, "And he was one of the people who were kidnapped for past _six_ months!"

That last part made made everyone's eyes widen in shock, especially Tobias. _Six months_ is exactly how long he was gone for. And what made it worse for him was the fact that this guy was experimented on. That led them all to the possibility that not one of them liked as the others looked at Tobias, seeing the horrified expression on his face.

"Guys… you don't think…" Tobias stuttered in fear.

"Don't you think like that, dude!" Cyrus sternly said in denial before they all heard the entrance door creek open.

"Hey, who's in here?!" An stern adult voice spoke up from the door, making them panic.

"Uh-oh… sounds like trouble," Lana said, knowing they were in for it now.

"If they catch us here with him unconscious, we _will_ be in trouble," Tobias said in a fearful tone, "Let's get out of here."

"I'm with you there, Tobes," Angus said before peeking behind a wall of the room, seeing two grown men, both male, one caucasian and the other tan, and in security uniforms searching the room through every nook and cranny, "But we got two guards blocking our only exit."

"Well…" Tobias stuttered before seeing a door and smirking with an idea, "We'll take the long way out."

Tobias quickly walked to the door and turned the knob to see if it could be opened. His smile grew larger as he found out it was already unlocked.

"Nice!" Tobias said in a pumped tone as he quickly yet quietly opened the door - revealing a flight of stairs going down - and gestured the others to follow, "Let's go!"

"Uh… I appreciate the enthusiasm, Tobes, but do you even know where that leads?" Angus asked, hoping his friend knew what he was doing.

"Honestly, I have no clue, but right now, it's the only other way to go," Tobias admitted in a bit of hesitation, "You guys with me?"

The friends looked at each other, trying to decide if they should try and sneak past the guards, or to follow Tobias and his instincts. They then looked back into the direction and saw the guards getting closer to them, making that direction and the first plan seem like a bad idea.

"We're with you, Toby," Lana and the others nodded before running past Tobias and down the stairs, with Tobias quietly closing the door behind them, leaving the unconscious man to guards.

About a half hour later, Tobias and the others were walking back down the path they took earlier, heading back to the safety of their suburban heaven in Skyline City. The dirt path was rained on the entire time since they were in there, so it was difficult to gain traction on the muddy terrain. The whole fiasco at the day left them all a bit petrified, but also a tad thrilled, given that they all witnessed a man in a monster's body, and found out what the Build Driver and the FullBottles could do. However, what baffled them the most was the mysterious man who gave them more bottles and vanished in a cloud of steam. Everything that just happened has given them all mixed feelings, especially Tobias and Angus.

Tobias was wary, especially about the text he received. But he was also curious - the man who texted him and the man who reversed the Smash's transformation were most likely the same. However, with a name like Blood Stalk, red flags were going off in his head. It sounded like something out of horror movie, and what made it worse, is that he didn't know the man's real identity, let alone his motives and ambition. This meant he had to be more careful from now on. But even so, he wondered deeply on what this has to do with his lack of memories. And he pondered even deeper on what any of this - the kidnappings, the Driver, the bottles, the mystery man, the Smashes - had to do with his father.

Angus was also getting red flags in his head. This whole thing spelled out "giant-ass beartrap" in his head. Growing up, he was taught to never trust others he didn't know unless his father knew them. The fact that the man wouldn't reveal himself to any of them made it clear that he couldn't be trusted one bit. In fact, Angus thought the Smash was brought there to kill them, or more specifically, to kill Tobias. He wasn't gonna let that happen. However, the sight of seeing his best friend transforming into a superhero made him both confused and impressed. In fact, he figured Tobias could do much more than just beat up a monster; he thinks Tobias should consider saving lives.

After a while of silence, Lana broke the silence.

"Well, that was definitely something," She commented, with the others nodding in agreement.

"I'll say, dude," Cyrus began, "And the fact that the Tobester turned into a superhero was downright righteous!"

"Easy there, Cy," Tobias said, "I think it's a bit too soon to start calling me a superhero."

"Nonsense, bro, you totally got what it takes!" Cyrus corrected him, "You were awesome, you fought the Smash with super strength and speed, and you put your life on the line just to save us! I'd say you're a superhero, Tobes."

"Maybe, but others might not think so," Tobias said bluntly with a frown, which got everyone concerned.

"What's wrong, Toby?" Daniel asked.

"I… I was hoping if we could find anything about my dad," Tobias said with a sad tone, "We found nothing and to make it worse, because of me listening to that text, you guys were nearly killed. It's my fault you guys were dragged into this mess."

"Hey, don't think like that, Tobes," Angus sid sternly, "You grew smarter, man, so you should know by now that if it were any one of us, we'd do the same thing."

"Yeah!" Lana, Cyrus and Daniel exclaimed in agreement. That actually made Tobias feel better as he smiled, knowing he had great if not the best of friends anyone could ever ask for.

"I love you guys, you know that?" Tobias asked, receiving reassuring nods from his friends, "Alright, who wants to head home and start some stoichiometry and divide Gamma by the thirtieth power?"

That last sentence made Angus, Cyrus, Lana and Daniel look at him in confusion. They had absolutely no idea what he meant. That was when he started laughing hysterically.

"Haha, gotcha!" Tobias said, making them all laugh at his joke, "I was just screwing with you guys."

"Well… ha, you got us good, Tobes," Angus chuckled as their fears all went away.

"Alright, now how about movies and videogames at my place tonight?" Tobias asked, "We'll find out more about this mystery tomorrow."

"I'm game," Daniel nodded.

"Count me in!" Angus smirked.

"Sign me up!" Cyrus agreed.

"Always!" Lana said with a smile.

"Alright, but first, let's head down to Nascita," Tobias suggested, "I'm hungry and could use some good food right now."

"Agreed!" They all nodded as they made it back onto the main road of the suburbs.

"Home at last," Angus sighed in relief.

"And remember, guys, this never happened," Tobias reminded them all, "We never saw anything, we never went anywhere out of the city limits, and we never speak about the Build Driver or the mystery man."

"Got it!" They all winked in reassurance before making their way to Nascita.

Unbeknownst to any of them, the five friends were being watched by yet another figure in the shadows. The man stared at them in both unease and intent to kill. He clenched his fists tightly in anger and frustration, feeling like these friends were a threat, especially Tobias. The shadowy figure shot a glare at Tobias before both his head and chest lit up as bright, yellow bats.

 _"We'll see how you fare next time, boys,"_ He said in hostility before steam surrounded him, and just like the other man, he was gone when it cleared.

* * *

 _ **THE SAME DAY; 1.75 HOURS LATER; SKYLINE MOUNTAINS' CAVE**_

* * *

Back in the cave, thanks to the help of the Teletraan I computer, Megatron and Skywarp were able repair all of their Decepticon allies - any and all robots that had the purple insignia. Once the last of them were rebuilt, Megatron spoke up.

"Rejoice, my Decepticons!" He exclaimed as he pointed at a caved-in entrance, "We have arrived at the target planet, and the Autobots have fallen!"

"What now, Lord Megatron?" Asked a Decepticon with the design of a black and purple sports car with with yellow windows.

"Now, we make our escape from this prison, harvest this world's resources, restore Cybertron, and conquer both planets!" Megatron declared before aiming his cannon at the rubble, "ONWORD FOR GLORY!"

The Decepticons all shouted in enthusiasm as Megatron's cannon lit up with a purple light. Megatron then shot out an energy blast at the rubble, revealing their way out of the mountain. They made their way outside and onto a cliff about 175 feet in the air, and saw the whole area around them - the mountains, the blue sky filled with clouds, and the forests beneath the cliff. To the Decepticons, this was both new and confusing as they didn't really expect to see this on the new planet.

"Uh… where are we exactly?" Asked a Decepticon who looked like Skywarp, only he had a blue design instead of a black one.

"Yeah, are we sure we landed on the right planet?" A Decepticon based off a yellow dragster asked, hoping this wasn't the planet as he saw many animals, such as squirrels and birds, and winced in disgust, "There's too many organics here."

"Shockwave did say the target planet was infested with organics, both botanical and animalistic," Megatron said as held his chin before turning to a navy blue and gray Decepticon with a silver faceplate, a red visor, and clear chest with the Decepticon emblem in the center, "Soundwave, compare the coordinates of the Ark's trajectory with with the coordinates Shockwave gave us for the Nemesis."

"Comparing coordinates…" Soundwave said as a holographic projection of the Ark's trajectory and the Nemesis' destination coordinates. The projection showed two versions of prehistoric Earth, one with a set of coordinates given to them by this Shockwave character, and another showing the Ark's trajectory onto the planet when it crashed. The coordinates seemed to have matched in an alien dialect.

"Data informs that this planet _is_ the target planet," Soundwave explained.

"And yet it seldomly looks like what Shockwave displayed," Megatron said as he observed the forests, animals and rock formations, "When he crash-landed, we must've went into sleep mode to keep our Energon levels stable, until we were repaired by the Ark's systems. However, as we slept, the planet and its lifeforms must've aged and evolved. Much time has passed, and we are far overdue in harvesting the planet's resources and converting them into Energon."

"I think someone already beat us to the Energon," A blue Decepticon that looked like Skywarp said as he pointed, "Look over there!"

Megatron and the other Decepticons look in the direction the blue one was pointing at. They saw something _definitely_ weren't expecting: a nearby city just beyond the forest. In their minds, their first thoughts said that it was a Cybertronian colony, one that needed to be cleaned out of all Autobots, but in reality, unbeknownst to any of them, it was Skyline City, Tobias' home. They also saw the Sky Wall with the red energy coming out of it, thinking it could also be Cybertronian.

"Is that a colony?" A red, gray and blue robot resembling Skywarp asked in disbelief, "And if so, is it Autobot or Decepticon? And why is there a wall over there?"

"I do not know, Starscream," Megatron answered, "But before we do anything about that city, we must set up a plan of action."

"Like what, Lord Megatron," Skywarp asked.

"We set up a temporary base until we can find the Nemesis," Megatron explained the plan, "And as we set up base, we observe the city and search for any Autobots or organics that may have populated it."

Megatron then turned to a gray and white Decepticon with three-fingered hands and three smaller purple ones who resembled each other and ordered, "Incinerator, Reflector, transform and fly over city. Record any data and observations you make!"

"Yes, Lord Megatron!" Incinerator saluted before he changed form into a bell helicopter.

"Observe and report! Understood!" Reflector, the three Decepticons, said in unison before changing into a camera and attaching to Incinerator.

"We'll be back with the new data!" Incinerator exclaimed before taking off towards Skyline City.

"Decepticons!" Megatron faced his followers, "The planet might have changed, but our mission has not; we will extract this planet's resources, process it into Energon, conquer this world, and return to Cybertron in triumph!"

"How do we even know Cybertron still exists?" Skywarp asked bluntly.

"It must exist, and with the harvested Energon, we shall return home with enough power to conquer the universe!" Megatron exclaimed before walking down the cliff towards the forest, "But for now, my Decepticons, we must find any isolated area, to hide from any surviving Autobots or organic lifeforms."

The Decepticons all started following Megatron, all except for Starscream who faced the cave leading to the Ark. Starscream then took aim with his right arm blaster started shooting on the mountainside, sealing in the other robots. Megatron noticed and shouted at the flyer.

"Starscream, stop!" Megatron ordered, making Starscream cease what he was doing and face the Decepticon leader.

"I'm just saying 'goodbye!'" Starscream explained in a defensive tone.

"Save your energy," Megatron scolded before turning around and continued walking into woods, "Prime and his followers have taken their last flight."

As soon as they were far away enough, Starscream took aim again and shot the cliffside before saying, "I'm not taking any chances, Megatron."

Once the cave was completely sealed in by the rubble, Starscream smirked before speaking again.

"Thanks for the escort, Prime, it's a shame that none of you will make it to the end," Starscream said before running to catch up with the others as he muttered, "Leaving the Autobots there where some other Autobot or organic might stumble into the Ark and repair them. Typical Megatron. That's why I should be leader! I'd never make mistake like that!"

As Starscream caught up with them - unbeknownst to any one of them - that shooting at the mountain's side created a small tremor in the cave. It wasn't enough to cause major damage, but it was enough for a rock to fall onto the Teletraan I computer and give it a jumpstart. The scanners in the room then projected and scanned the rest of the robots before the computer spoke up.

 _ **"** **AUTOBOT REPAIR SEQUENCE RESTARTED,"**_ It spoke before the mechanical arms reached out and started repairing robots again, _**"** ** _C_ OMMENCING VEHICLE ADAPTATION FOR TRANSFORMATION COGS!"**_

With the Ark repairing the Autobots, Tobias changing into an armored warrior, this planet was about to experience the strangest and most dangerous moments ever known. And it was going to start with Skyline City. The Decepticons must be stopped, and the people who made the Smashes must be brought to justice. But how will this planet deal with a young hero and a alien civil war?


End file.
